Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
September 22, 2007 Talkin’ Cotton Most May planted cotton in Oklahoma is now ready for application of harvest aids. Some producers have been making applications, and we have initiated several harvest aids research and demonstration plots. The best way to determine if the crop is ready for application is by slicing the top harvestable boll. When the plant is ready for a boll opener, the seeds that have been sliced should have a dry (not gelled) inside and the seed coat should form a dark colored ring on the outside of the seed. The most successful treatments are those involving both a boll opener and a defoliant. The boll opener not only opens bolls, but it makes the defoliant work more effectively. The most common treatments at this time of year are Finish plus Def or Ginstar or Prep (or other generic ethephon products) plus Def or Ginstar. Finish works faster that the other ethephon products, but also is more expensive. Def should be used on cotton that has cut out well, and does not have excessive new growth in the top of the plant. If a lot of new growth is on the plant, Ginstar should be used. In cotton that is to be stripped, a sequential treatment of a desiccant might be required one to two weeks later to dry the plant and condition it for stripper harvest. The most effective desiccant is a paraquat based product such as Gramoxone Inteon, but caution should be taken if spraying this product near wheat. If wheat are small grains are in the vicinity, one of the PPO inhibitor products should be used. The most commonly used PPO products are Aim, ET, or Blizzard. Next week I will report on what products and rates are looking better in our research experiments. Our Harvest Aid recommendations are available on the NTOKCotton web site. The address is http://www.ntokcotton.org. |