Specialists Speaking

Many of our cotton producers were glad to leave 2018 behind them as crop management was difficult through most of the year due to wet conditions after a dry early May. Even though the crop was one of the best ones produced in years, harvest time saw one of the most harsh periods in many decades with Hurricane Michael. The ... Read More »

While some farmers got a later start than usual, the above-average temperatures in May propelled the crop to one of our fastest starts. As we rolled into harvest, the frequent and often heavy rainfall caused delays and had negative effects on grades and yield. The National Agricultural Statistics Service October Crop Production report estimated production at 1.15 million bales, unchanged ... Read More »

Harvest season is especially busy and stressful for farmers as they often have two or more crops to gather in an eight- to 10-week period. There is also the potential for tropical storms and hurricanes that delay and reduce harvest and shorter days in November, which result in less harvest time. Cotton yields have generally been good with many fields ... Read More »

As I write this on Sept. 5, the cotton crop in North Carolina is variable but generally good in many parts of the state. Yield potential among fields varies significantly and within a close proximity, depending on planting date, severity of drought stress during late June and early July, and rainfall that occurred during the latter half of the bloom ... Read More »

After some mid- and late-season pest issues (lygus, mites), and a rough summer with high temperatures, most cotton fields still look relatively good going into boll maturation. Late plantings and fields that sustained a lot of early to mid-season lygus losses have top crops that will be important to attaining decent yields. They will need to be irrigated later than ... Read More »

This has been an unusual cotton-growing season with rain since the middle of May and often little time to get into the field to manage the crop. However, most growers got the weeds under control and were able to apply sidedress nitrogen when needed. The crop is growing well and looks promising at this point. Cotton is blooming and fruiting ... Read More »

By mid-June, we reached a critical time for our cotton crop in terms of preserving yield potential as a result of moisture stress. This is not the norm for Arkansas. Some fields continued to produce nodes close to what was expected. However, many fields of all ages across the state exhibited a big slowdown in node production, indicating the need ... Read More »