[Tift Co. / Damon Jones – Reporting]
This is a sight that no farmer wants to see,
as these tiny pests have a big impact on both
the quality and quantity of the cotton crop.
And up until recently, they have been mostly
contained to one area of the state.
[Phillip Roberts – Extension Entomologist,
UGA]
We tend to deal with whiteflies on a more
frequent basis in what we call our more historical
core areas.
And those are typically areas where we produce
both cotton, as well as vegetables.
And the reason we have whiteflies in those
areas is we basically have cultivated crops
where whiteflies can reproduce and survive
12 months out of the year.
[Damon]
However, that isn't the case this year, as
whiteflies have spread throughout South Georgia
due to certain weather conditions.
[Phillip]
The winter coming into 2020, uh, was very
mild.
We only had six days below freezing here in
Tifton.
And that's another factor of why we tend to
have more of a problem this year.
It's nowhere near the outbreak that we saw
in 2017, but whiteflies have spread out of
this core area into some of our other cotton
producing counties in South Georgia.
[Damon]
With that in mind, growers are encouraged
to get out into their fields early and often
to prevent them from becoming a major problem.
[Phillip]
You have to scout.
And it's important that you know whiteflies
are there.
When whiteflies are present, they should influence
every decision we make, uh, because when whiteflies
are present, we need to conserve beneficial
insects to help us.
So, we only want to spray other pests when
we absolutely have to like stinkbugs for example.
So, we need to be managing whiteflies, monitoring
whiteflies basically until every leaf has
dropped off that plant when we defoliate the
cotton.
[Damon]
Once the problem is detected, timely management
is essential if you want to get the most out
of your crop.
[Phillip]
Where we were late with our treatment or where
we haven't treated at all, we see what I call
a general leaf decline, where the leaves start
changing to a darker color, a brownish color.
We see some splotchiness of the leaves and
ultimately those leaves will drop from the
plant.
The other thing we see when whiteflies are
bad is the accumulation of honeydew, that's
an excretion from these whiteflies.
It's a sugary excretion.
Uh, that can accumulate on the leaves.
We have suttee mold, so the leaves turn black.
That is something we don't want to accumulate
on the lint itself.
[Damon]
And with the pickers and bailers set to start
up in the coming months, Roberts suggests
farmers with a whitefly problem to get their
cotton out of the field as soon as possible.
[Phillip]
I want to encourage our growers, especially
where whiteflies are present, to defoliate
this crop and pick it in a very timely manner.
We know there are a lot of advantages to harvesting
cotton in a timely manner just from quality
and yield preservation.
But when whiteflies are present, the sooner
we defoliate, the sooner we eliminate that
risk of whiteflies impacting fiber quality.
[Damon]
Reporting from Tift County, I'm Damon Jones
for the Farm Monitor.
