Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Fine-tuning Plans for 2025

NORTH CAROLINA |Keith Edmisten

Keith Edmisten
Keith Edmisten,
North Carolina

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 on proven products. Of course, variety selection is always an important input, but especially so when the only way to avoid losing money is to have high yields.

The results of the official cotton variety results and the on-farm cotton variety evaluation are available on our Extension cotton portal (cotton.ces.ncsu.edu). We should have fiber quality data back within the next two weeks. The results will be discussed in upcoming winter cotton meetings, and the calendar for cotton meetings can be found on the same portal.

Think hard about what inputs you really need to produce a good crop. There are a lot of unproven products available. If you would like to try an unproven product, make sure you try it on small acreages to avoid spending too much money on a crop in a year with an unfavorable economic outlook. One of the most common claims we hear is that North Carolina Department of Agriculture fertility recommendations are too low. We have not found this to be true in our trials. Even doubling NCDA fertility recommendations have not increased yields compared to following NCDA recommendations. keith_edmisten@ncsu.edu

GEORGIA | Camp Hand

camp hand
Camp Hand,
Georgia

Since this article is in a cotton magazine, I am assuming everyone knows the current situation as it pertains to the crop and its production. The cost of production has certainly exceeded the market price, and that has been the case for the past few years. Although this is the case, I’m sure many folks are gearing up to go again in 2025.

Bottom line — as it stands right now, we have got to make our inputs count in 2025. I have spoken previously on “unproven products” of which there are many. Now is not the time to blanket apply these things across the entire farm. Make sure we have plans to get the most out of our pest management applications, planting the highest-yielding variety (regardless of herbicide or insect technology) and not cutting the things we have to do to make the crop. At the end of the day, we still have to make cotton to sell it in an attempt to make some money.

We are currently in the middle of our county production meetings, with a few more left to go. If we haven’t gotten the opportunity to see you yet, there is still time! Our schedule is posted at ugacotton.com. It has been great getting back on the road and “Talkin’ Cotton” with everyone.

In the meantime, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out. The cotton team and your local University of Georgia county agent are here to help! camphand@uga.edu

ALABAMA | Scott H. Graham

Scott H. Graham, Alabama

How to maximize cotton production in 2025. That will be the main focus of our Extension meetings this year. Overall, the best way to overcome low prices is high yields. As we talked about last month, high yields start with variety selection. Putting the right variety in the right field at the right time sets the tone for the rest of the year. From that point forward, all we are doing is trying to preserve our maximum yield potential.

Putting the crop in at “the right time” can be pretty hard to do. In a given year, cotton planting in Alabama can last from late April to early July. Of course, we would rather not be finishing up planting when we typically expect to see our first blooms (July 4th), but sometimes it happens.

In 2024, we saw two pretty distinct crops across much of the state: an early crop, planted before May 15, and a late crop planted after about May 25. Generally speaking, the early crop did better than the late. Cotton at peak bloom in July (when rainfall was plentiful) did well and cotton at peak bloom in August (when rainfall was non-existent) did not.

For example, in one of our trials sponsored by the Alabama Cotton Commission, we planted cotton on May 2 and on May 23 at Prattville (Central Alabama) and Belle Mina (North Alabama). The early planted cotton averaged 1,397 pounds of lint, while the late-planted averaged 823 pounds (over a bale difference!). Based on this, there may be some thought as to planting the whole crop as early as we can.

Keep in mind that this agronomic advice is coming from a cotton entomologist, but if I were trying to reduce risk in 2025, I would want to spread out my crop as best I could. Putting all your eggs in one basket can be boom or bust. If the rains had been reversed last year (none in July and tons in August), our planting date study would have likely flipped. Spreading planting dates from late April to nearly the end of May may not give us the greatest potential to “blow it out,” but it will very likely keep us from “bottoming it out.”

Extension meeting season is upon us. Over the next several weeks, we will have multiple cotton production meetings in every region of the state. Get with your local regional Extension agent for dates and locations nearest you. As always, if I can ever be of any help, don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know! scottg@auburn.edu

ARKANSAS | Zachary Treadway

Zachary Treadway, Arkansas

It is Jan. 8 as I write this, and Arkansas is staring in the face of a serious winter storm. Forecasters are predicting up to 8 inches of snow for parts of the Natural State. With weather like this, it can seem like we are a lifetime away from cotton season, but it will be here before we know it. Beltwide Cotton Conference is next week, and county meeting season really gets going after that. Beltwide will be a fantastic opportunity to gather as specialists and discuss the season passed and the season on the horizon. The prompt for this edition is “Fine-tuning Plans for 2025,” and now is the time to be nailing down those particulars.

Soil tests are a very important place to start. With input costs at an all-time high, soil tests ensure that producers are making the optimal fertilizer application for their ground. While producers are looking for ways to lessen costs, soil tests are not a place to scrimp. Since being in Arkansas, I have seen numerous pieces of promotional material from our soil test lab with the slogan, “Don’t Guess, Soil Test.” It is a simple reminder that there is no need to take a blind shot when the service is available to make sure we get the nutrients exactly where they are needed.

It is also time to be finalizing variety decisions. It is vital to choose varieties that will provide optimal yields and fiber quality for your unique geography. The results of our large-plot variety trial programs are now published to aid in choosing varieties. Those results can be found at: https://aaes.uada.edu/variety-testing/. These trials covered a wide geographic range in hopes of providing results that are relatively local to most of the cotton growers in Arkansas.

Finally, it’s a good time to be making herbicide plans. Burndowns and pre-emergence applications will come first, and those are vital to ensuring that weeds can be controlled deeper into the growing season. I spent most of my academic career in weed science programs, and I learned that they only way to stay clean is to start clean, and that means applying burndowns and residual herbicides to make sure that the crop has a chance to emerge and grow unabated during the critical weed-free period. As always, if there’s any way I can help, please reach out. ztreadway@uada.edu

MISSISSIPPI | Brian Pieralisi

brian pieralisi
Brian Pieralisi,
Mississippi

There’s nothing easy about farming…and if it seems like things are going too good to be true, I would be looking for the “whammy” around the corner. It is time to start fine-tuning plans for 2025, which is a difficult task with stakes as high as they are in the agriculture industry.  Margins are tight, markets are stagnant and weed control technologies are in jeopardy (to put it nicely).

After a couple years of downward profitability trends, I think it’s important to consider ways to offset costs. It could take getting creative. Look closely at variety trial data when selecting varieties. Some less-popular varieties could perform as well or slightly below with a lesser price tag. 

Also, I have gotten a lot of calls about more conventional cotton, or with less technology, and using cultivators, layby rigs and “bottle nose” sprayers. I know most of this equipment is buried under 20-year-old vines, etc., but could it be an option? Reducing nitrogen rates slightly and improving use efficiency could help with plant growth regulator/plant bug management, and possibly help with defoliation.

Lastly, taking advantage of good planting windows, spending time going over your planter and general timeliness with everything could go a long way this year. Hopefully things will turn around soon… and be a little more favorable by harvest! bkp4@msstate.edu

TEXAS | Ben McKnight

ben mcknight
Ben McKnight,
Texas A&M

As the growing season approaches, decision-making and planning for the 2025 season are in full swing. Variety selection is one of the most important decisions a producer will make all year and will steer many decisions, including weed control. Making weed control and herbicide program decisions for 2025 will be different compared to the previous year, especially since dicamba will not be a herbicide option in the upcoming year.

Many dicamba-tolerant varieties have good yield potential and fiber quality characteristics and may have a good fit in your region. Producers will continue to plant these varieties in 2025 even though dicamba can’t be applied over-the-top. Adjustments to overall weed control programs will need to be made moving forward.

Starting clean and staying clean early in the season will be a big step in the right direction. Pre-plant residual herbicide products can provide excellent early season residual control in many cases, but it is extremely important for applicators to fully familiarize themselves with the product labels, especially with requirements for herbicide activation. In many cases, herbicides will need a certain amount of rainfall or irrigation to be activated. Timing applications when conditions are best for this will enhance herbicide activity and, in turn, weed control.

Glufosinate still has good activity on many of our troublesome weeds including Palmer amaranth and tall waterhemp, but application timing is key to obtaining good results. Target small, actively growing weeds soon after emergence to prevent herbicide failures due to weed size being too large. Additionally, tank-mixing a residual herbicide product with post-emergence products can stretch the period of effective weed control if they are activated by the appropriate amount of rainfall or irrigation following application. bmcknight@tamu.edu

TEXAS | Ken Legé

Ken Lège, Texas

Most West Texas growers were ready to flip the calendar to 2025 after a promising 2024 season fell apart in late July and August, leading to disappointing yields across the board. However, moods improved with the second-wettest November in the area that at least provided some base moisture on which to build for 2025 and allowed good establishment of cover crops for soil health and wind erosion mitigation.

Now we turn our attention to 2025, which is not without its own challenges. Realize there are things we can control (e.g., inputs, crop selection and rotation, variety selection, weed control, etc.) and other things that are beyond our control (e.g., the commodity market, the weather, government programs, irrigation capacity, etc.). Focus on the things you can control and plan how you can respond to the things that you can’t control.

Barring a Hail Mary pass late in the fourth quarter, growers are facing a season without a labeled dicamba product for over-the-top application on XtendFlex cotton for the 2025 season. Fortunately, we have alternatives with the Enlist system, and many growers can manage weeds effectively with glyphosate and glufosinate. Some West Texas growers can successfully use a conventional system. These alternative systems performed very well in 2024 and can certainly be used in 2025. Additionally, it is good that we know early in the season that in-season dicamba will not be available, because it gives growers plenty of time to chart a strategy. Don’t delay in planning weed control!

Regardless of which in-season weed control strategy you choose, residual herbicides should be the foundation. That starts with burndowns and yellows in the not-too-distant future. Overlapping residual herbicides with different modes of action from burndown to canopy closure is key to a successful weed control program, regardless of technology used. The only difference among those technologies is how to control the inevitable weed escapes from residual herbicides. Plan now so you aren’t faced with surprises down the road.

What else can growers do to prepare for 2025? It’s prime time for variety selection. Most of 2024’s trial results are in, and growers should invest ample time evaluating their variety needs and which varieties will fit each field (yes, that’s right; this implies that one variety will not likely fit every acre on your farm!). This is especially important if you’re facing a different technology system than what you’ve used before because it may require the use of a set of varieties for which you have no experience. 

We had a successful 2024 Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation trial season in the southern High Plains. Those RACE trials spanned every weed control technology system that will be available in 2025. While we haven’t compiled the final report with interpretation verbiage, we’ve made available all the final results from each trial. See https://lubbock.tamu.edu/programs/crops/cotton/extension-cotton-agronomy/ for detailed reports for each site. Additionally, the results from Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s small plot OVTs conducted by our new breeder, Dr. Carol Kelly, will be released and posted to https://lubbock.tamu.edu/ when available. These two public testing sources provide results across the entire southern High Plains from 23 trial locations that span the area’s geography, farming practices, soil textures, planting date ranges, irrigation capacity ranges, disease and nematode scenarios and yield potential ranges. 

Every West Texas grower should find a location that closely approximates their farming conditions and utilize those data to make decisions. Growers should also look at every one of those locations to compare their perspective variety(ies)’s performance. Just because a trial is not in your county or backyard doesn’t mean those data aren’t relevant to your farm. Compare the range of responses to get a sense of a variety’s performance stability. Don’t see a location that represents your farming scenario? Contact me about growing a RACE trial for 2025. There is no better way to compare variety performance than in a replicated, large-plot, on-farm trial on YOUR farm using YOUR practices. Best wishes on a successful 2025 season! ken.lege@ag.tamu.edu

MISSOURI | Bradley Wilson

Bradley Wilson, Missouri

Cotton turned out better in 2024 than expected with the challenges faced throughout the growing season. Average lint yields in our region were comparable to past growing seasons, which was unexpected. Fiber quality (color and leaf grades) may have been impacted from regrowth following defoliation in 2024. Acres in Missouri are believed to be approximately 400,000 in 2025.

While cotton prices remain low, it may be time to think about cost of producing a cotton crop. Variety selection is one of the basics but is an extremely important decision. Cotton small plot OVT’s and large-block, on-farm variety data can be found on the Fisher Delta Research Center website. We’ll be discussing variety selection and seeding rate over the next few months at meetings in Missouri.

There are various other inputs that help drive expected lint yields that include fertility, weed and insect applications. The 2025 growing season is going to be a year where we need to be cautious and use inputs wisely. In fertility, yield response has been rare beyond 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre in our regional cotton nitrogen trials. Responses to foliar fertilizers have not been observed when soil-applied fertilizers are following soil test recommendations. Timeliness is key when it comes to weed and insect control. We need to utilize scouting and have a plan to respond when applications are needed. brwilson@missouri.edu

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