Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
August 15, 2005 Talkin’ Cotton
Mid August is when cotton should be fruiting heavily, and it seems that it is looking for an excuse to cut out. If it has good growing conditions and is carrying a good fruit load the bloom should be moving toward the top of the plant. Physiologically, cutout occurs when a first position bloom is within five nodes of the top of the plant. Cutout during the mid to latter part of August when other conditions are good is usually an indicator of potentially high yields. Differences in nitrogen fertility will usually be most obvious at this time of year. Rapidly developing cotton with a high fruit load can produce a heavy shed of small bolls even with a few days of cloudy and cooler than normal weather.
Mid August is also a good time to survey fields and map trouble spots for the next growing season. Inputs are too expensive to apply one standard weed control or fertility practice to all your cotton acres. Some fields can get by with only a yellow herbicide applied preplant, while other fields will need some more expensive treatments to control a particular weed species. Fields can also be mapped out for obvious areas that show differences in fertility. Soil samples can be taken later in these specific mapped areas to determine if there is a pH or fertility problem.
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