Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
August 5, 2007 Talkin’ Cotton
In most areas, Oklahoma cotton has recovered from the wet soils and is going into fruiting in good shape. The dryland crop is the best I have seen in several years. We had a problem with aphids in some fields, but beneficial insects and the aphid fungus have been effective in reducing the problem with only a few fields needing to be sprayed. Irrigated cotton has had two to three irrigations and is at peak bloom and holding fruit well. The only problem we have seen this week is in some dryland fields on sandy soils that have not recovered fully from the wet soils earlier in the season. Because of the waterlogged soils, these fields developed a shallow root system with very limited taproot development. When the soils started drying out, the only roots the plant had were in the quickly drying upper soil layer. At this time the upper lateral roots are attempting to grow deeper, but growth will not be as deep as a root system with an active taproot. These plants will be at a disadvantage the rest of the season, especially if we have drying conditions. Fortunately these spots are normally in only a small part of the total acreage of the field. Since dryland cotton is growing so well, we’ve had questions on use of growth regulators on the crop. If the crop is well fruited and is not on extremely fertile soils, it will likely not need a growth regulator. The best growth regulator is a good fruit load. Carbohydrate demand by the developing bolls should keep vegetative growth under control.
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