PhytoGen Vigor Trumps Weather
June 1, 2009 When grower Jim Jones planted 1,000 acres of cotton near Palestine, AR, this spring, he took a chance on a new variety — Dow AgroSciences’ PhytoGen PHY 370 WS/RR — after becoming comfortable with PhytoGen’s PHY 375 WS/RF. All told, PhytoGen varieties were planted on 350 of Jones’ cotton acres.
Conditions were good for planting in the Arkansas Delta when Jones began, but some precipitation and a cool snap in late April put on some early stress. “It rained for several days in cool weather and the cotton couldn’t come up like it should,” he says. While his other varieties struggled, 370 and 375 continued to perform.
“It was all planted just a day or two apart,” Jones says. “The PhytoGen cotton had a lot better vigor. It came up to a good stand, but a lot of the other varieties got caught in the crook and wouldn’t come out.”
Judd Hill, AR, grower Bill Baker echoes Jones: “From day one, we were extremely wet and cold, then went from that to extremely dry and hot. The plants that are out there today have gone through a lot.”
Baker has seen his share of new technologies come and go. “When you start talking about fall armyworms, about vigor and about performance, then PhytoGen starts to stand out,” he says. “We didn’t have this real skimpy, slow emergence with the PhytoGen. That catches your eye.”
PHY 375 variety was commercially available on a limited basis in 2008, but PhytoGen says it will be more readily available in 2009. The company says it is ramping up production due to expectations that as many as 33% of Georgia’s growers could switch to PhytoGen’s WideStrike varieties next year.
PhytoGen’s PHY 800 was the number one Pima variety in 2008 and was planted on 66.9% of the Pima acres.
For more information on PhytoGen varieties, see: www.phytogenyields.com.
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