Stink bugs build up in crops such as corn, sorghum, and soybeans, and readily move into cotton as these crops cutout. This means that it is especially important to scout for stink bugs in cotton fields that are adjacent to these other crops, especially when these crops begin to mature. Stink bugs are not easy to scout. If one uses a visual scouting technique a threshold of five bugs per 100 plants is recommended. However, when making visual searches it is important to be diligent because stink bugs are often found deep in the canopy feeding under the bracts of bolls.
Recent research indicates that a threshold based on damage is also useful.
External symptoms of stink bug injury are similar to those of tarnished plant bug, sunken dark purple spots on the outer boll wall. However, when attempting to assess stink bug injury it is important to crack the bolls, because not all bolls that show external damage will have internal damage and not all bolls that have internal damage will show external symptoms. The moths are easily identified. They are large moths that are primarily white and covered with black specks. The larvae are very hairy caterpillars that reach a size of two inches or more when mature.