Some cotton flowers stay closed like a rose and bolls have holes with pink larvae inside. What is happening?
Why are my cotton flowers turning into rosettes and bolls rotting?
RRavi Kumar1yr ago · 477 views
3 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓1yr ago
That rosette flower with petals stuck together is the classic sign of pink bollworm, and the pink larvae inside bolls confirm it. The larva webs the flower shut and feeds inside developing bolls, which then rot or open badly and reduce lint quality. Remove and destroy all rosetted flowers and damaged bolls you can find, as they carry the next generation. Set pheromone traps to track moth pressure and spray a recommended insecticide on threshold, rotating chemicals. Most important, pick on time and do not carry the crop late into the season. After harvest, uproot and destroy stalks so larvae do not survive in stubble to attack next year.
SSrinivas Reddy1yr ago
Same problem hit me last year in Warangal. The agri officer told me my late kharif sowing made it worse because the crop was still standing when moth numbers peaked. This year I sowed on time and finished early, much less damage.
AAnjamma Bandari1yr ago
When you split a damaged green boll you will often see the entry hole closed over and pink larvae inside one lock. Do not throw these bolls in the field corner, that just lets the moths emerge nearby. We collect them and either feed to cattle or destroy them, which noticeably reduced our second flush damage.