Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
June 12, 2006 Talkin’ Cotton
Getting a stand has been difficult this season due to limited moisture and a lack of rainfall to help get the stand established. Some seed dried out before germination, some sprouted and dried out, and some emerged, and is moisture stressed while trying to establish a root system. As a result, a lot of fields have skippy stands and decisions will need to be made on replant, termination, or try to keep the plants. This has been an extremely dry year to this point, and there is no long term outlook that conditions will be much better. If your cotton stand has survived to this point, it has developed an extensive root system. If stand average is one plant per foot and there are not many long skips on adjacent rows, it will pay to keep the stand rather than attempt a replant in dry soil. Many times a thin stand will yield better than a normal stand in dry years. A thinner stand allows each plant to have more soil moisture available to it, which will help in retention of fruit. After June 20 on dryland cotton, replanting is not a very good option. We have all heard of stories of late June cotton making a good yield, but this is rare, and any success will depend upon excellent moisture for the remainder of the season in addition to a very late fall.
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