Specialists Speaking

For all practical purposes, the 2013 cotton has been harvested. There may be a few isolated fields that haven’t been harvested, but these would be on the heavier, wetter soils that are prone to flooding. More importantly, the modules have been taken to the gins. I haven’t seen a module truck on the road for at least three weeks.

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu HARVEST CONTINUES IN BOOTHEEL According to the Missouri Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending, Nov. 10, cotton harvested was 64 percent complete, 18 days behind last year and 17 days behind normal. There was a lot...

Missouri’s cotton producers are ready to get this crop out of the field. However, they will need to wait longer than usual. According to the Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Sept. 15, cotton opening bolls were 10 percent complete, 33 days behind last year and 24 days behind normal.

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu HOPE FOR MISSOURI'S COTTON CROP Missouri's cotton harvest finally began in early October. We are still two to three weeks later than normal. Harvest got off to a good start before showers shut us down. One observation is that...

At this time, our cotton is about two weeks behind our normal development. Much of the cotton growing area has had about six inches of rain or more within the last month, with most of it coming in two weeks. We normally refer to the July and August rains as “million dollar” rains because it helps revive the non-irrigated cotton, and it lowers irrigation costs.

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu CROP TRYING TO CATCH UP According to the Crop Progress and Condition report for the week ending July 14, cotton squaring was 62 percent complete, 16 days behind last year and 11 days behind normal. Cotton setting bolls was...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu PLENTY OF MOISTURE FOR GROWTH Missouri producers ran out of time to get the seed in the ground. A large portion of the crop is planted later than we would like to see. To summarize our planting season by...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu PLANTING HAS BEEN DIFFICULT It does not take too much of a reminder to realize that we are not in control. According to the Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending May 12, cotton planted was 12...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu DROUGHT CONTINUES IN MISSOURI Southeast Missouri is blessed with groundwater resources. Irrigation really helped us duringseveral severe droughts within the past five years. The Drought Monitor had our growing area classified as exceptional drought during much of the growing...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT HURT MISSOURI As we look back on the 2012 Missouri cotton crop, we had a pretty good year. While our drought conditions were described by the Drought Monitor as exceptional, we still had a better-than-average year. With...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu For all practical purposes, the Missouri cotton crop is harvested. The Missouri Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Nov. 11 shows only 89 percent harvested. But I have not seen any cotton in the field...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu According to the Missouri Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Oct. 14, 47 percent of the cotton has been harvested. This is one day behind last year and two days behind normal. Cotton condition was...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu The remnants of Hurricane Isaac brought some welcome rainfall to southeast Missouri. While this drops our area out of the worst drought category, we are still listed as extreme. The good news is that we are projected to...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu According to the Missouri Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Aug. 12, cotton setting bolls and beyond was 81 percent, 10 days behind last year and 12 days behind normal. Cotton opening bolls was nine...

MISSOURI Mike Milam milammr@missouri.edu This has been such an unusual year for Missouri producers. We have set so many record highs, and we have worsening drought conditions. All of our cotton-growing area is classified as extreme drought. Although we have isolated and...