Technical Abstract: Spinosad (Tracer) was evaluated in a large scale field study for thrips control in early season cotton. Spinosad at 154 mL/ha was used in all treatments and compared to dicrotophos (Bidrin 8) at 292 mL/ha that was applied conventionally. Treatments were applied aerially using conventional hydraulic, electrostatic and rotary nozzle setups. Larvae and adult thrips counts were significantly less than the untreated control across all sampling dates except for larvae per plant count at 1 DAT with dicrotophos (Treatment 6) and adult numbers at 7 DAT. The greatest percent reductions of adult thrips occurred at 1 DAT when all aerial application treatments were significantly lower than the control. At 7 DAT, the three spinosad applications made with CP nozzles (Treatments 3, 4, and 5) showed the greatest control for adults and reduction of larvae. There were increases in adult numbers in the electrostatic and rotary treatments of 41% and 10%, respectively, over the control at 7 DAT. Based on spray droplet deposition data collected and thrips control obtained in this study, the optimum aerial application treatments were conventional hydraulic nozzles (CP-03) with a volume median diameter of 175 µm, at spray rates of 18.7 and 46.8 L/ha with Tracer as the active ingredient. The addition of an adjuvant did not have a significant effect on efficacy. Tracer provided equivalent or better than control of larval or adult thrips than the conventional application of dicrotophos.