Southwest Cotton Field Report

Gary Sanders reports that, “the triangle area (from Lubbock to Muleshoe to Hereford) is three weeks ahead of schedule. If the current weather holds, this will be the fastest crop I have seen. Irrigated cotton condition is strictly being determined by the amount of water that it has obtained. In most of the lower water pivots, the cotton is basically burning up simply because there isn’t enough water to keep up with the daily demand. Most of the drip acres are doing better than the pivots now and are looking pretty good. Drip irrigation is able to deliver a lot higher efficiency in watering the plant, but if there isn’t substantial water in the system, even those acres are suffering.

 

“I am hearing from growers that have more irrigation capacity that some of their cotton is beginning to grow, and they are making applications of a plant growth regulator. The growth between the nodes is getting a little more than acceptable, so a light shot of PGR is probably needed there. 

 

“We could be harvesting by late September this year. There are cotton fields that will be opening up in the next three weeks.”

 

Julie Dingus, who covers West Texas (including Gaines, Yoakum and Andrews counties) and New Mexico, says that, “due to the drought conditions that we have endured, we have cotton that is anywhere from 5-to 9-nodes above white flower stage. Surprisingly, despite these rough conditions, the fruit load looks good, especially where growers had sufficient water. This is important as we head into August as this is our usual month to see some natural shedding of squares as plants try and determine what their optimum fruit load should be that they can carry to maturity. 

 

“Overall we are seeing very little insect pressure. However, IPM agents have advised us that they have identified a rare thrips species, Kurtomathrips morrilli, that has shown up in Gaines County, and are advising us to keep a look out for them. We are seeing some light beneficial populations out there, primarily lady bugs and lacewings. Growers also are doing a balancing act, trying to keep all of their circles adequately watered so their cotton doesn’t cut out prematurely. Even with all the challenges we have experienced this year, extreme winds, no rain and many days of 100 plus temperatures, we still have some beautiful cotton out there and we are concentrating on getting every boll we can to harvest.”

 

The Northern High Plains of Texas, as well as southwestern and south central Kansas are starting to improve. “To the detriment of corn failing, growers here are now able to focus all of their water on their cotton acreage,” says Jerry Montgomery. “The cotton has really responded well to the new surge of water. Where growers still have a corn crop, they can’t water their cotton as well and it’s cutting out. 

 

“Cotton around this area is probably two weeks ahead of schedule. It looks like it is going to mature out early enough before suffering any effects from an eventual early freeze they will get. The Siliverton, Briscoe County and Hall County area received anywhere from 1-to-3 inches of rainfall recently. That really helped those growers out and things are looking up for cotton in that area.”

 

The irrigated cotton acres southwest of Lubbock (including Hockley, Cochran and Terry counties) that we are holding onto have a good square set and boll set coming on, But the area definitely needs rainfall.

  

“On cotton acres, where growers have good irrigation, the plant looks good. But where there isn’t enough water, the cotton plant is blooming out at the top,” reports Doug Fairbanks. “A lot of growers are cutting off pivots and some growers are evaluating whether or not they can stay with it or have to switch to half pivots. Growers will have to pick what they can manage under their light water pivots. 

 

“At this time there is no heavy insect pressure. There have been a few spider mites and leaf miners, but nothing to be too concerned with right now.”

 

 In the Rio Grande Valley, the harvest is complete, with the exception of the irrigated acres. The area did get hit by rains from the tropical storm, but most of the cotton was harvested before that happened. Depending on where you were, yields were average to below average. 

 

“The cotton yields in the Corpus Christi were average,” says Kevin Cavanaugh. “It looked like they were going to make bales on dryland, which is quite amazing considering they haven’t had very much rain. They dodged a bullet on the tropical storm since it stayed south of them. 

 

“The cotton harvest in the upper coast has begun. Defoliation is in full swing and so far yield results are a mixed bag. Some places are better than average. In the Blacklands, with no foreseeable rain in the future, it’s probably going to be a little below average in yields. They are still waiting on rain to try and make an average crop. And in San Angelo, the irrigated acreage has already run out of water.”

 

“In Southwest Oklahoma and Northern Rolling Plains area, those fortunate enough to have excellent water, the cotton crop is looking pretty good,” reports Denver Cole. “Anything below excellent water doesn’t look that good because it’s just really hard to keep up with the intense heat. Right now you must have excellent irrigation to be producing a good cotton crop and finding those fields are few and far between. 

 

There is some light lygus bug pressure that we are finding first thing in the mornings. Other than that, we will have to watch for stink bugs possibly coming up. We want to do everything we can to hold on to the crop that we have left. Closely managing this cotton crop from now until harvest is very important.”