Tyson Raper
The 2025 season has been tough. Generally, Tennessee’s cotton acres were extremely wet through the end of June and extremely dry from July through early October. The weather pattern created a very shallow-rooted crop, which had very little ability...
Shelly Kerns
We are nearing the very end of cotton harvest here in Louisiana, with the exception of a some later planted acres. So far, growers have reported picking around 1,200 lbs. to 1,600 lbs., with some reports nearing or...
Randy Norton
The 2025 Arizona cotton season has been a year of contrasts marked by encouraging progress and a few lingering challenges. The crop got off to a strong start with solid germination and stand establishment across most regions.
Coming off...
Guy Collins
This year has certainly been unique and has brought its share of challenges as every year does. Planting season started out well. A noticeable number of acres were planted in mid- to late-April and early May as warm...
Ken Legé
Soil moisture and rainfall are at the focus of everything for the cotton crop in the High Plains of West Texas, and 2025 was no different. A dry winter was followed by very timely planting rains that were...
Camp Hand
It is amazing how much can change in a year. Looking back at what we wrote in May — which was the most recent Specialists Speaking — and comparing where we are now, it feels like 2025 was...
Jenny Dudak
The 2025 cotton season started wet for most areas, leaving us with replanted or late-planted cotton across the state. Heat units were also something we were tracking closely all season as we were consistently, on average, 200 heat...
NORTH CAROLINA | Guy Collins
As I write this in late March, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture is in full swing with the cotton seed quality testing program as seed is moving into North Carolina more and more rapidly. By...
VIRGINIA | Hunter Frame
April is burndown month for cotton here in Virginia and sprayers are covering as many acres as possible. As I write this in March, it looks like cotton acres will be up in Virginia as corn and...
NORTH CAROLINA | Guy Collins
As I write this on Jan. 29, we are preparing for our winter cotton meeting season during the month of February. When looking at the article I wrote exactly a year ago, I mentioned we made...
NORTH CAROLINA | Keith Edmisten
I am sure it is hard for growers to get too excited about planning for the 2025 season with the prices we are seeing now. It looks like a year to pay close attention to inputs and focus...
MISSISSIPPI | Brian Pieralisi
2024 cotton harvest was a LONG one in Mississippi. At least it was for me with on-farm demonstrations from September to December. As we steam roll into 2025, it appears to be a challenging year for row-crop...
TEXAS | Ben McKnight
As the 2024 growing season winds down and we begin to shift towards making plans for the 2025 cotton crop, there are some decisions made now that can help get next year’s cotton crop off to a...
ALABAMA | Scott H. Graham
In the August edition of Specialists Speaking, I mentioned that July was good to the crop. Unfortunately, that trend did not continue. August was not kind. Scattered rains seemed to hit towns and cities and missed...
ALABAMA | Scott H. Graham
Overall, July was good to our crop. Many fields received abundant rainfall during the month. In fact, one grower (and close friend) in east Alabama changed his prayer requests from “just pray for rain, whatever amount”...
