The value of lucerne as a trap crop for cotton pests has been recognised in America for some time (Deloach and Peters 1972, Robinson et al. 1972, Sevacherian and Stern 1974). The major use of this cultural control technique in America has been for trapping the Lygus bug. Although possibilities of strip cropping for insect control have drawn considerable interest from Australian farmers, few studies have been done on the effects of strip cropping on the pest/predator complex of Australian cotton. Mirids, the Lygus bug's Australian relative, are an occasional pest of cotton in the Macquarie valley of NSW. An experiment was devised to determine the effect of strip cropped luceme on the spatial and temporal distribution of pests, including mirids and Helicoverpa, and predators within a commercial cotton crop.