Farming ‘Til The Whistle Blows
February 25, 2009 Being an Ole Miss football fan isn’t easy, especially not the past two years. The biggest problem I can see – and I am by no means an expert – is that the team can’t finish strong. They often play great in the first half, keeping the score close when the halftime whistle blows. Then the wheels fall off.
If they come out strong in the second half (and to give them credit, the ol’ Rebels have looked better recently), the big “W” just seems to elude the team no matter what happens. If they tie the game, they lose in overtime. If they are driving down the field, the ball gets intercepted in the end zone. If we need three points to win, the kick is just a bit outside. I know the team is trying its best, so I won’t get down on them. But it sure is frustrating to get so close, to see the finish line in sight, and then something happens that keeps you from achieving your goal.
Unfortunately, that happens to cotton crops each and every year. A crop can look good in the beginning and then, because of weather or insects, the tables can turn – and when they turn, it can happen fast. Whenever farmers are asked how their crops are looking, especially if they are looking good, they usually say something like, “It’s hard to say – we’ll just have to wait and see.”
I used to think that growers said this for some sort of superstitious reason, like when baseball pitchers don’t wash their socks when they are on a winning streak. But after attempting to grow my own half acre, I have figured out the why. They say it because it’s the truth. Farmers really don’t know how the crop will finish until it’s harvested. So much can change, so quickly, that often there is no use venturing a guess.
So when Cotton Grower Publisher Mike Gonitzke asked me in mid-October how my crop looked, my answer was very familiar to farmers across the Cotton Belt: “It looks OK right now – not the best nor the worst – but it hasn’t been picked yet. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
To be honest, for a crop I have planted and managed in my spare time, I think it looks pretty good. I got started a little late because I couldn’t find the right seed plates (a week of trials and errors, plus a tour of West Tennessee looking for the right John Deere plates was all it took). Then, I was in China for almost two weeks for our sister publication Cotton International during perfect growing weather – so perfect that I probably needed PGR a little sooner than I applied it. I got it on there before the stalks were taller than the truck (no, they are not really that tall), so the plants are growthy, but not too out of control.
I finally defoliated the crop on October 15, about two weeks later than I had planned. Again, I was in England and Switzerland for Cotton International the first 10 days of October, so two weeks late really isn’t that bad. Given the weather conditions, a consultant who looked at my half acre said that the plants were doing well and the delayed defoliation probably would help my yield.
When I went down to defoliate, my friend and advisor John Bradley got out of the truck and laughed a little to himself while looking at the field. “Oh great,” I thought. “Here is the catastrophic news I have been waiting for.” But then came relief.
“You know it really looks pretty good,” he said. “After those last pictures you sent me during the heat and drought, I thought it wasn’t going to look this good. You’ve got a decent crop here.”
Not great, but not bad – “a decent crop.” For a full-time magazine editor, a part-time cotton farmer, and a most of the time Ole Miss fan, that’s not too bad. We haven’t harvested yet, but so far so good. I’ll take it for now, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Until next month, see you in the field …
Captions:
With the help of John Bradley and a sprayer from Agricenter International in Memphis, we finally got the half acre defoliated on October 15.
So far, so good – but it’s not harvested yet.
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