A bloom period-specific economic injury level for a cotton boll-feeding plant bug

In a field cage study (2011 and 2012, Corpus Christi, TX), cotton plants infested during early bloom (10 to 11 nodes above first white flower) with verde plant bug, Creontiades signatus (Hemiptera: Miridae), showed a linear decline in fruit retention and boll load, and a linear increase in boll damage as verde plant bug infestation levels increased from an average of 0.5 to 4 bugs per plant. Lint and seed yield per plant showed a corresponding decline. Fruit retention, boll load, and yield were not affected on plants infested one week later at peak bloom, even though boll damage increased as infestation levels increased. A simple linear response best described the yield response—insect density relationship at early bloom. These results were used to calculate an early bloom specific economic injury level (EIL).