Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
October 31, 2005 Talkin’ Cotton
Most of the questions this week have been received from producers with cotton damaged by the freezing weather on October 23. We could not confirm the extent of damage until Wednesday or Thursday, but in some areas small to medium sized bolls were frozen. These frozen bolls are now evident as light brown and leathery in texture. When they are cut open, they have a characteristic putrid smell and the lint is rotten. In the most severely affected areas, two to four bolls per plant have been frozen, but these bolls would not have contributed significantly to either yield or quality of the lint if they had been allowed to develop. Fields that a boll opener harvest aid had been applied one to two weeks earlier were in much better shape than those that no boll opener had been applied but we could see positive results of applications that had been made two to three days prior to the freeze. Fields should be evaluated at this time, and if non-frozen bolls do not crack open with hand pressure, these fields can still benefit from a Prep type boll opener prior to a killing freeze. Timing should be any sunny day as soon as possible. Fiber development has finished for the season, so there is no advantage to waiting for the application.
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