As the crop year hits mid-July, maturity of this season’s cotton crop is rapidly improving, although the crop in some areas ranges from recently emerged to first bloom, making crop management a bit of a challenge. As always, some areas need rain. Others need to dry out a bit. And the insect battles are heating up.
Here’s what our contributing consultants are saying:
Chad Harrell owns and operates Harrell Agronomic Services in Northeastern North Carolina.
Cotton has advanced rapidly since the rains a couple of weeks ago. Some areas are beginning to run out of moisture again, but we do have a good chance over the next few days.
Most growers have now finished side dressing and herbicide applications. We are now focused more on PGR applications and plant bugs. We have had to really get aggressive with PGRs on some of the later planted cotton this year. Plant bug pressure has picked up over the last week, although some areas still remain light.
A large portion of our acres will be entering the first week of bloom this week, putting the crop about 10-14 days behind schedule.
Wes Briggs consults on cotton, corn, peanuts, soybeans, and small grains for growers in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.
It’s been a crazy, hectic couple of weeks. We have a lot of issues this time of year around weed control, fertility, some pretty heavy moth flights in some areas.
It’s just that time of year. We generally concentrate on weeds and fertilizer in June and July, and we still have a lot of weed work to do in cotton. We’ve had a wider range of plant dates this year – more so than I’ve had in a long time. We have cotton that’s 85 days old and in the third week of bloom all the way to cotton that’s only been planted for about two weeks. Probably 60% of the crop is squaring, and about 20-25% is blooming.
Weed management this year has been tough. Most years, we’re wrapping up our herbicides on cotton by July 10, but this year we’ll go all the way to the end of the month. Thankfully our dicamba cut-off date is July 31, and we’ll definitely be taking care of weeds up to then.
We’ve had some pretty good rain in spots. We’re not in a drought, but we do have some places that could use some rain.
For insects, lygus is still our main focus. It’ll still be a focus on into August. At bloom, we’ll start transitioning to different chemistries that will help with lygus too as we start focusing on stink bugs.
Disease issues are really quiet. Depending on weather conditions, we’ll start seeing some aerolate, target spot, stemphylium, and other cotton disease pathogens in South Georgia by mid-August. We’re ready for it, but we’ll make our fungicide decisions on cotton later.
We have a lot of PGRs going out. We’re on our second application on cotton going into bloom. About 80% of our cotton has had at least one application, and we still have some young cotton that we’re watching.
Tucker Miller is a Mississippi-based independent private consultant for cotton, soybeans, corn, peanuts, rice, and vegetables.
Our cotton ranges from 19 nodes down to 14 nodes. Older cotton is 6 nodes above white flower.
We have good moisture everywhere following recent rains. We are applying PGRs on most varieties and spraying plant bugs and aphids, but pressure hasn’t been that bad. Spider mites haven’t been a problem.
We still have a few spots that didn’t get laid by and have some escaped weeds.
Mark Nemec is an independent agricultural consultant for cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and corn in the Blacklands and Brazos River Bottom area of Central Texas.
Things are starting to sizzle in Central Texas. The heat dome is settling back on top of us again. We had a small break over the last couple of weeks, but it was a very small one. Some very spotty showers helped a few fields stay fresh while the rest is really maturing rapidly. Dryland fields have started to shed fruit. What looked like a good potential is slipping in a hurry. Irrigation in the Brazos Bottom is going full steam ahead. Pivots are having a hard time keeping up due to the high heat indexes and very warm nights.
With all the other crops finishing out, the stink bugs are flocking to the green cotton. Spider mites can be seen along corn fields and dirt roads. There are some PGRs going out on some of the more aggressive irrigated varieties.
Corn harvest should start here in the next few days. Our corn crops should be good, as it was pretty well made before the heat set in.
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb Counties.
Cotton ranges from 7 to 14 true leaves with square set/retention averaging a good +85%. I am just now starting to see first bloom in the more advanced fields. Generally, it will be after July 20 before we see cotton beginning to bloom, if not later in a good majority.
Our last effective bloom date (the date on which we can say with a high percent chance that a bloom will result in a harvestable boll) ranges from August 10-15, from Morton to Ropesville. So, if you do not begin to bloom until August 1, this gives you about 12 days of good bloom period, or time for about four first position bolls to be formed. In that scenario, yield is limited. A field which begins to bloom on July 15 has about a 28-day effective bloom period, which can result in ~9 first position bolls. This is not counting second or possibly third positions in either case.
Cotton insect pests remain quiet. In the IPM Scouting Program, I have noted only a handful of adult fleahoppers. To date, none of these infestations have reached a threshold to justify treatment. Products listed for fleahoppers include Vydate, Orthene 97, Acephate 90 Prill, Intruder Max/Strafer Max, Carbine, Centric, Alias, or Bidrin. Beneficial insects and spider numbers are surprisingly good in some fields, though limited food sources are available.
Weeds continue to be the most dominant pest currently. A long-varied list of weed species is noted throughout the area, with Palmer amaranth still at the top. If you need help identifying a weed and coming up with a control plan, give me a call. Remember, these weeds serve as host to many of our crop pests.
Another cotton issue that I am seeing and am concerned about as we move into another very hot period is heavy wheat stubble which served a great purpose back a few weeks ago as protection from the various elements, mostly wind. Now, however, it can be a detriment to the cotton since intact stubble can wick moisture from the soil.
I would encourage you to somehow break or sever that stem/straw from the roots. Using a sweep or knife to undercut this will help, or I have even seen stalk chopper units moved into the row middle and used to lay that stubble down, breaking that continuum of straw and roots and limiting the wicking effect.
