Mississippi cotton: mites being treated in south Delta

We began hearing scattered reports about spider mites in Mississippi cotton a couple of weeks ago. Angus Catchot, the state's Extension Entomologist, said today in the Mississippi Crop Situation newsletter that some fields have been treated.
"At this time it has been somewhat spotty, but I have been getting calls of more people finding mites each day with eggs present," Catchot wrote. "We are getting into a weather pattern of hot and dry, which is ideal for mite populations to increase rapidly."
Spider mites, once considered a minor and secondary pest, have been a more persistent problem in parts of the Midsouth over the last five years. Areas in northeast Arkansas and north Alabama have had persistent populations for longer than that. Shifts in insecticide usage and a decline in in-furrow insecticide use are cited by entomologists as a couple of possible factors. Drier conditions also tend to favor mite development, and some materials used to treat thrips tend to flare mites.
Click here to download Catchot's full report.