Mature larvae are particularly vulnerable to the caterpillar hunters and other larger ground beetle species when they move to the ground to pupate. One species of caterpillar hunter was reported to consume an average of 41 large gypsy moth larvae during its 14 day larval feeding period. As their name implies, many species are primarily ground foragers, but some species, particularly the Lebia species and some of the caterpillar hunters, also forage in the plant canopy. Because they occur in higher numbers and have a tendency to forge on the plants, the Lebia are one of the more important groups of ground beetles. Most of the cotton in the delta now has sufficient moisture.
Some areas have too much water and are busy trying to get water off of their fields.
Three and a half days per node is still slow, but this is better than the previous weeks. The NuCotn 33 plants are now in the 7th node, and the first squares are showing up on the 6th and 7th node. Treatment with several insecticides were made last week. With some warm weather, we should see a third grown square toward the latter part of next week. Which means a pinhead square application of insecticide will be made before the squares reach this size.