Crop Scan AgReport – Rain, Rain Go Away
September 20, 2021 
Cotton Grower® magazine’s Crop Scan AgReport for late September shows a crop ready to finish, but pre-harvest preparation is being challenged by some late season rain in the Southeast and Mid-South. Harvest should begin in earnest by early October. This is our final report for the 2021 growing season. Our sincere thanks to our contributing consultants for their time and valuable input.
Chad Harrell owns and operates Harrell Agronomic Services in Northeastern North Carolina. He is a member of the North Carolina Agricultural Consultants Association and serves on the board of the North Carolina Cotton Producers Association.
We are starting to defoliate much of the earlier planted cotton this week. The cotton that was planted in mid-to-late May will still need a couple more weeks to finish out those top bolls. So far, we have remained dry, and we have had very little hard lock.
We had good heat units last week to move the crop along. We are expecting rain at the end of this week followed by some cooler weather next week which may slow the progress down.
Wes Briggs is an independent consultant providing recommendations on weed, disease, insect and fertility management, plus variable rate soil sampling, for growers in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida for more than 30 years. He and his scouting team cover about 10 counties in the tristate area, checking cotton, corn, peanuts, soybeans, and some small grains.
Mother Nature hasn’t been so nice the last 10 to 12 days. Some areas have accumulated over 4 inches of rainfall, with 1 inch in places on Sunday, Sept. 19. September rains are not a welcome sight for cotton and peanut growers in the southeast.
Peanut harvest is in full swing, but we are running 7 to 10 days behind. Hopefully, growers can get back going by the end of the week.
Cotton defoliation has just started for us. Less than 500 acres have been defoliated, and we may have to make another application with all the rain we’ve had. I expect to find a lot of sprouted seed in lint this week due to too much rain and cloudy weather. Our oldest cotton is 40%-60% open, and it’s had too much rain to finish strong. Late planted June cotton can still finish strong with good weather.
Cooler temperatures and sunshine are expected later this week. The bulk of our cotton crop (80%-90%) will be defoliated in October.
Tucker Miller is a Mississippi-based independent private consultant for cotton, soybeans, corn, peanuts, rice, and vegetables. He is a member and past president of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association.
Photo: Tucker MillerWe just received anywhere from 2-4 inches of rain that was not wanted. We have about 600 acres that were defoliated last week, and we will put out our second shot after the weather breaks this week. We are forecasted to have some cooler temperatures and will have to adjust our defoliation mix accordingly. The majority of the cotton is still 2 weeks from defoliation.
We really need some more heat on this cotton. It looks to be a pretty good crop if we can get it defoliated and picked before any more bad weather.
Mark Nemec is a Texas independent agricultural consultant, now in his 27th year of checking cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and corn in the Blacklands and Brazos River Bottom area of Central Texas.
Things are winding down fast here in Central Texas. We managed to dodge a cannonball named Nicholas. It would have caught us just like last year with most of our cotton open. Sending prayers to our neighbors to the east and south. We feel for y’all.
Defoliation is really picking up this week. Some earlier fields that were dropped early have been harvested with average to above average yields. We are having to work around green spots where the earlier excessive rains slowed down these areas.
This year stated out as a struggle, and it is ending the same way. There are some really good looking cotton fields here with what looks like some of our best yields in quite a while.
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb Counties, providing education and applied research for weeds, insects, diseases, nematodes, growth regulators and harvest aids in cotton. He is a member of the High Plains Association of Crop Consultants.
Harvest is just around the corner here on the Texas South Plains. We have been blessed with good warm sunny weather the past couple of weeks and the forecast is calling for more of the same through September. Optimism still exists for good yields and the fact that we have a dryland crop to harvest. We have not had this in a few years.
In general, we are still a couple of weeks from getting started applying harvest aids. Ethephon products are generally competitive enough such that we can keep rates at or above a quart. Defoliants generally all work well here. I remind producers to pay attention to what the manufacturers recommend for adjuvants with these products, particularly the PPOs (Aim, ETX, Display, Sharpen). To deviate can cause poor performance. Also, some defoliants can be temperature sensitive. As it cools, some of the defoliants, such as Ginstar, may require a bump in rate.
That leaves us with the desiccants, which are primarily paraquat products. Again, I remind producers that paraquat is activated by sunlight. If it is applied early in the day, it will generally result in a rapid burn of the plant tissue and result in typical desiccation (sticking of leaves). Versus, in an application applied later in the day, the paraquat will move deeper in the plant tissue (local systemic movement). This can result in both desiccation and additional defoliation.
Have a safe harvest.
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