Blame It On The Rain

Farmers often hear the question, “How’s your cotton looking – are you going to have a good crop this year?”

To the average person, that seems like a logical question. Farmers are on the land every day, checking their plants, managing pests and sometimes irrigating. Shouldn’t they have a good idea what the crop will look like? Not always.

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What the average person doesn’t understand is that producers never know what lies ahead. A cotton field can look fantastic for the first few months of the season, only to encounter drought or plant bugs later in the year. Conversely, a season can start out with some hiccups, then perfect weather and good management finish the year off strong. During the process, you never know what it’s going to look like until the cotton hits the gin.

That’s what I’ve learned during the last few months growing Drew’s Half Acre. My plot started off slow with insects and weeds, but rain and good weather came at just the right time. From mid-June to mid-July, the half acre got 5 inches of rain, enough for the plants to really come on strong. Then came the drought and heat, and things don’t look so good all over again.

As this month’s issue of Cotton Grower goes to press, it’s 105 degrees outside and no rain is in sight. When it comes to weather, cotton growers must be thick skinned and play the hand they are dealt – a lesson that’s hard to learn until you’ve experienced it yourself.

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Until next month, see you in the field …

Captions:

June 17: Drew’s Half Acre is off to a decent start, but thrips and weeds threaten the field early. After a shot of Roundup and a pyrethroid, I started to get the control I needed.

July 18: After spending almost two weeks in China for the 2007 China International Cotton Conference, I come back to find Drew’s Half Acre very healthy – and fairly tall. Some morningglories have wound their way around parts of the field, and a little grass is growing in the furrows. After talking with some trusted advisors and consultants, I plan on a tank mix of Roundup, PGR and a plant bug insecticide.

July 25: John Bradley, research director of the Agricenter International, sprays Drew’s Half Acre with Roundup, PGR and a plant bug insecticide. Obviously, my cotton is a Flex variety. Isn’t technology grand? John says that although my cotton is a little tall, everything else looks great and it’s progressing nicely. I begin to think cotton farming is easy (within two weeks my attitude changes).

July 25: From a flower comes fiber. I realize that the cotton plant is a miraculous thing.

August 10: I get home from a week-long business trip and learn that growing cotton isn’t so easy after all. My wilted field looks fairly bad. I start thinking about “irrigation.” There is a well with a spigot about 600 feet away. The thought crosses my mind that I could be the first person in history to irrigate with a 20-foot-diameter, rotary sprinkler.

August 12: Even with the drought and wilting leaves, I decide to look on the bright side. The plants have a lot of bolls, and some are cracking open. I cut a boll open to find some good-looking fiber, but the plants need water, and they need it soon.

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