Weekly in-season Updates
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INFORMATION |
September 28, 2007 Talkin’ Cotton
Oklahoma has now ginned the first bale this season, and modules have started showing up on gin yards. This week, the early planted cotton harvest should be going strong in Southwest Oklahoma. The Indian Summer like weather for the last few weeks has really helped fiber development and helped condition the plant for harvest aids. In our tests, and in farmer fields, most harvest aids have been effective in both boll opening and defoliation. Applications involving Finish at 24 ounces per acre plus Def at 16 ounces have worked fast and looked good at 7 days following application. Treatments that included an ethephon type boll opener plus Ginstar have showed good defoliation but the boll opening is not as rapid as those treated with Def plus the boll opener. We need to consider that weather has been good and cotton has been well cut out, so all treatments have been effective, some have just been faster acting than others. If we get some rainfall that causes the plant to initiate more vegetative growth, then Ginstar could be an important part of the harvest aid mix. I haven’t heard of harvest of any stripper harvested cotton at this time, but at this time of the season, a desiccant applied 7 to 10 days following the initial application will probably be needed to condition the crop for a more effective harvest. |