Putting the Best of Both Worlds Together
March 15, 2024 Since the late 1990s, cotton growers have become accustomed to finding multiple letters and numbers tied to their cotton varieties. They speak to managing weed issues, insect pests, and more — now through multiple generations of trait technologies.
Much like little four- to six–letter road maps, they help point growers to the right variety with the right maturity, right yield potential, and right traits for pretty much any field on their farm.
Truth is, it’s hard to find a conventional variety on the market these days. They are few and far between, filling niches in certain geographies but also providing their own special value to growers and markets looking for something a little different.
Joe Johnson has what they may be looking for. He’s a breeder with Gowan Cotton Company, which offers hybrid cotton varieties combining the best of upland, Acala, and other traits to create its own category of extra-long staple cotton (ELS).
“This originated with the Hazera Cotton program that was introduced into the San Joaquin Valley from Israel nearly 20 years ago,” Johnson says, speaking during the 2024 Beltwide Cotton Conferences. “Gowan was a distributor for Hazera hybrids and purchased the company in 2018 to provide an ELS option to growers with marginal land. We sell an F1 hybrid with upland or Acala as a female pair crossed with ELS Pima and some of the older types of Sea Isle cotton from the Georgia and South Carolina coastal area. We’ve been able to capture the benefits and strengths of each of these types.”
Johnson describes the hybrid as having upland yield and stability with the Pima quality. It shows aggressive growth that allows it to withstand stresses like drought, saline, and marginal ground. It’s a full–season cotton with maturity falling typically between uplands and Pimas.
It’s not a fit in all parts of the Cotton Belt, but it has performed well in the San Joaquin Valley, Arizona, and southern New Mexico. It’s also finding success in the El Paso area, parts of the Texas High Plains, and off the Caprock into Oklahoma. To fully capture the value of the hybrid, it needs to be spindle picked and roller ginned.
“We have some places where the cotton is being saw ginned, but in the U.S., we recommend a roller gin,” says Johnson. “This is an ELS fiber, so you’re looking at 80 cents a pound for upland versus $2.00 for the Pima-type cotton.”
The company’s current variety is Gowan 1432. Years of evaluation show very acceptable numbers on average: 46-48 staple, 37-39 strength, 3.6-4.0 micronaire, 86-87% uniformity, and 6-8% elongation.
“While this is an ELS cotton sold in competition with Pimas, its fiber is very white and very bright,” notes Johnson. “You don’t see the cream color that you normally see with some Pimas. And because of its stability, we’re able to sell 1432 as a global product into Mexico, South America (especially Peru), Greece, Spain, Israel, and throughout Asia.”
But remember, this is a conventional non-GMO variety. Growers will need a conventional herbicide strategy and strong PGR (plant growth regulator) program to manage its aggressive growth. Johnson also points out that the variety tends to be loose in the burr, so when it’s time to defoliate, it’s best to be ready to pick, too.
“Because of the strength and potential of 1432, we won’t be moving away from it anytime soon,” says Johnson says. “There are some issues we want to improve and feel like we have a strong pipeline coming.”
You can find additional information online at GowanSeed.com.
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