Weird growths on Cotton Plant

[dracula13]

So, I have three cotton plants I grew from seed that are about 1 1/2 years old. I finished pruning them, and when I looked at what I pruned off there were these little brown orbs, about 1/8 inch in diameter.

Does anyone know what these are?

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1010 ... 8111162905

[applestar]

Google is showing the broken robot picture -- link not available. I'm "shooting in the dark" and guessing scale insects -- waxy brown bumps?

[rainbowgardener]

Interesting. The picture did come up for me, but it isn't real close up and doesn't enlarge very much, so not very helpful. The bumps are on the undersides of leaves, not on the stem.

I am thinking probably something insect related. Dracula, do they move? Can you rub them off?

Possibly some kind of egg, but they are occurring singly not in clusters. Most things like squash bugs, etc lay clusters of eggs.

[imafan26]

The brown orbs look like aphid mummies. I don't see aphids in the picture but I do see small white things too. It looks a lot like what is in the picture in the link. If you click on the link and the picture is imbedded in the article, click on the picture to enlarge.

https://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/soybean ... secticides

[dracula13]

Well I have a terrible aphid problem on my cotton plants, but also, it has aattracted a TON of Ladybugs, so I don't feel I should worry to much. Also, the plants look great!

[Susan W]

I have to ask on your cotton plants....Are they annual or perennial for you? What color cotton?

I usually have a few brown cotton plants in containers, just for fun. We are in weevil eradication zone, so a friendly bird dropped the seed by accident in the container on the back deck. If I think about it, get some starts early, can make bolls by Sept-Oct.

[dracula13]

As mentioned above they're 1 1/2 years old. Though I do see a larger production of flowers during the beginning of Summer/late Spring....I think.

Also, they are just white cotton plants.

[applestar]

So do you gave to be registered for googleplus to see them?

Aphid mummies https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 39&t=56128

[Susan W]

Oh, silly me! You said they were 1 1/2 yrs old, so not an annual, for your climate! Just curious, how big do they grow? Are they long lived, or a short lived perennial (2-3 yrs)? May I suggest you try a couple of the colored cottons for fun. One seed source is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They do cross pollinate, so resulting cotton bolls could be interesting.

Back to the bugs/growths, are they everywhere, or just a few leaves you can pinch off and put in trash (not compost).

[applestar]

Last year, I started 4 cotton plants from seeds but never got around to planting them in the ground. The poor things spent the summer in their 4"x4"x6" pots and two of the plants squeezed out a flower that set fruit and popped open after I brought them inside. So I harvested all of TWO bolls.

Out of the four, the other two plants were severely infested by scale insects so. I trashed them, but since the two with pods seemed clear of bugs and the pods were still green when frost threatened, I brought them in and have been keeping them (barely) alive on the windowsill after harvesting the bolls. They were invaded by ants bringing aphids, but the windowsill location keeps them chilled and they appear to be still OK.

Since they are buried behind several rows of larger plants, I tend to forget to water them, but if they make it all the way to spring, I'll try planting them in their 2nd year.