It’s Not Cotton Until You Earn It

“Don’t go down to the field expecting to plant right away. It never works out like that.”

That’s just one tidbit of wisdom I heard this past month while getting my half acre ready to plant. Unfortunately, that sage advice couldn’t have been more dead-on. But I’ll get to planting in a moment – first let me begin where I wrapped up.

Last month, I had taken my soil samples and sprayed glyphosate to get a good clean field to work with. Next on my list was to spread fertilizer, disk it in, and plant my seed by May 1. Sounded easy enough. I drove down to the farm April 20 to spread fertilizer. According to my soil sample test results and input from a few reliable sources, I needed the following units: 50 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds of phosphorus, 30 pounds of potassium and a 1/4 pound of boron. So I went to Woods Farm Supply on Highway 309 S. just outside of Byhalia to buy some fertilizer. Co-owner Pat Woods helped me while I was there, making sure I got exactly what I needed. Pat farmed cotton on my family’s land for several years, before getting out of cotton to focus on his supply business.

“You’re going to plant cotton – for fun?” Pat asked, a little bewildered but trying to be supportive. “Well, all I can say is to have fun with it.”

While I was there, Pat also gave me a little history on the area. More than a century ago, he said, Marshall County grew more cotton than any other place in the country. This year, he could only think of two people growing cotton in the area. U.S. acreage has increased many-fold since that time, so I guess technologies and new varieties allow more production in other areas, like West Texas. Speaking of West Texas, I heard an interesting comment on cotton farming a couple of months ago while in Lubbock for the Texas Gin Show. One grower told me he lived in Vegas – West Texas Vegas – alluding to the gamble it can be to put in a crop. To hear a seasoned, cotton-farming veteran talk this way, I have to admit, was a little disheartening for my own half acre. But determined to stay positive, I shook it off. “One step at a time,” I told myself. “Just go spread the fertilizer.” After all, there are a lot of positive aspects to growing cotton. It doesn’t need as much water as corn for example, and it’s a relatively hardy crop.

After the personal pep rally, I headed back to the field. I spread my fertilizer and disked the half acre with out much ado. Even a novice can pull a buggy behind a truck or a disk behind a tractor without much trouble. In about 10 days, I would head back to the field to plant my seed and begin my farming journey.

Because of work and weather, I wasn’t able to plant on May 1 as planned, so I moved the planting date to May 7. I learned that the optimum planting time for cotton in north Mississippi was the first two weeks in May, so I was still in the range. John Bradley, director of research at the Agricenter International who has been advising me throughout the process, gave me the small amount of seed I would need for my half acre. I have been sworn to secrecy as to the seed brand, but I will say it is a Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex, early season variety.

When I got to the field, a fair amount of grass had emerged since my last visit, so I decided to disk again so I could plant a clean field. After greasing the disk, it didn’t take long to get the field back in shape. Next, I hooked up the planter behind the tractor. I should stop here and explain my equipment predicament, so you know what I am working with. My tractor is a 1958 Ford 641 Workmaster, a small 33 hp tractor that reminds me of the old story “The Little Engine That Could.” With it, we plant food plots and small gardens, cut the grass around the farm and try to keep the roads in good shape. For years, I’ve tried to convince my dad that we needed a new tractor, but his father managed the Ford tractor dealership in Dresden, TN, while my dad was growing up – so he’s always been partial to those old Ford workhorses. Like the tractor, my planter falls into the antique category. It’s a John Deere 51, made sometime in the 1950s. It may be old, but it still plants well – if you have the right seed plates. If only I had the right seed plates.

One of the first things I did when I began this process was to order cotton plates for the planter. I knew we had some corn, sunflower and bean plates, but we’d never planted any cotton. After putting the shiny new plates on the weathered planter, I made a test run on the gravel road. I was looking for 3-5 seed per row foot, but what came out was 18-20 per foot. That simply would not work. I tried slowing the planter down by changing the sprockets and making other adjustments, but the plate just put out too many seeds. The sun was going down, and I’d “farmed” enough for one day. I headed back to the city dismayed and, I admit, a little worried.

The next day I headed for the Dandridge Equipment Company in Somerville, TN, to see if they could offer me any solutions. They could order a few different plates for me, but I needed to see the plates before I bought them. In my mind, I knew what I needed; I just had to see it. I told the guys thanks, and went to Plan B.

My dad’s good friend V. E. “Bubba” Pennel, owner of Pennel Farms in Brownsville, TN, told me I could come by his farm and see if he had any plates that would work. After going through two milk crates of plates, I found three different ones that looked close to what I need. As I headed west on Interstate 40 with the sun setting before my eyes, I hoped the answers to my problems were lying in the floorboard.

The next Friday, May 11, I went to the farm with confidence. I had a couple different plates to choose from, and one of them had to work. I opened up the planter, took off the old plates and tried to put a new one on. It wouldn’t fit – there was a lip on it that wouldn’t allow the plate to lay flat. So I tried another one – no good either. I could feel the sweat dripping down my brow. If the next one didn’t work, what was I going to do – plant 25,000 seed by hand? As I placed the last plate in the planter, I heard that distinct metal-on-metal click – a perfect fit. I rolled the wheel a couple revolutions and calculated it was putting 3-4 seed per row foot.

“I’m going to put the rest of the cotton in the hopper,” I told my younger brother Jeffrey. “Let’s get this planted.”

That’s when Jeffrey said something very wise. “It’s not cotton yet,” he said. “Right now it’s just seed. You have to earn the cotton.”

We got the seed in the ground just before dark. It wasn’t easy, but the first major step is complete. In my next column, with some work and good luck, cotton plants will be coming through the ground – but I’ll have to earn it. Until next month, see you in the field …