Last-Minute Tips To Get Primed For Planting

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 good yields in 2023 and, despite climbing production costs, there were plenty of opportunities to book the 2023 crop at very respectable prices.

Fast forward to today, the situation is noticeably different. Most growers in North Carolina had yet another good year for cotton, with many reporting above-average to strong yields, and some reporting average or slightly less. There were some pockets where yields were more challenged than in other areas in regard to the June drought and the cool/wet September, both of which took some yield from us. Production costs remained high during 2024 and we expect more of the same in 2025. The biggest difference from a year ago (or more) is market prices. Needless to say, budgets for cotton will be very tight for 2025 unless a major change in market prices surprises us.

With that said, we need to watch our inputs. Make sure every input is justified through replicated research. Along these lines, we have to avoid unnecessary costs. One such potentially avoidable cost is replanting. Replanting can be driven by weather, which is something we need to give adequate attention during planting, but it all starts with seed. March is a great time to start inquiring about seed quality and to ensure your seed is tested as part of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Cotton Seed Testing Program.

As seed arrives into North Carolina, the NCDA inspectors will be actively testing seed lots that they find. However, the inspectors can only collect samples from lots that they were notified of arrival, or ones they happen to find. Additionally, NCDA is down to two inspectors and are stretched very thin. Therefore, growers wanting their seed tested should know that it is the grower’s responsibility to facilitate this process, which now means you may need to collect samples and submit them to the state seed lab yourself. This should be done well ahead of planting season or even ahead of downstream seed treatment, as it is difficult to process seed through the lab in time for planting once we get to mid-April or later. Our newsletters on cotton.ces.ncsu.edu will provide more information on proper procedures for submitting seed samples to the NCDA lab. guy_collins@ncsu.edu

TENNESSEE | Tyson Raper

The theme for my winter meeting presentations this year focuses on cutting inputs without sacrificing the top-end yield potential. As I think about planting decisions for 2025, the two inputs I believe we must mull over are seeding rates and nitrogen rates, as our decisions on these two inputs play a substantial role in our needs for other inputs. Over the past several years, we have had several challenging springs where marginal stands (often just over one plant per row foot) were kept. Observing those fields led some to become more comfortable with thinner stands.

As we allow more light to penetrate the canopy, we often find first fruiting positions retained lower on the plant. With more bolls per plant and bolls lower on the plant, vegetative growth is more naturally regulated. An optimized nitrogen rate (often lower than typically applied) will also lead to an easier-to-manage crop that will also be earlier maturing. The earliness of this crop, coupled with a lack of excessive nitrogen, will result in a natural senescence of lower leaves on the plant and a much less attractive canopy for many of our late-season insect pests, reducing our need for late-season insecticides.

One last point: Several growers in the Mid-South have recently been experimenting with skip-row cotton. These growers are capitalizing on the fact that cotton will compensate when given more space. We can take advantage of these savings in the solid-plant scenario by dropping seeding rates and nitrogen rates. For many, these will be the two easiest ways to move the bottom line closer to black. traper@utk.edu

GEORGIA | Camp Hand

Last year, I had an interesting interaction with a grower. The county agent in Lanier County, Georgia, called and asked if I could troubleshoot a field. So I went, and within a couple of minutes, I realized the pre-bloom cotton was potash deficient. The grower pulled up and I told him what the issue was, so he asked what he needed to do to fix it. I told him I knew how to turn the cotton around, but I didn’t want him to do it because it would cost too much money, the cotton price was too low and we had a lot of season left. He then looked over and pointed at a house close to the field and said, “Do you see that house? That is where I live, and I see this cotton every day. I don’t care what it costs; I want this done right.” So I told him what I would do and we went our separate ways.

The lesson I learned here is that we can talk all day long about how to cut costs and those types of things, but once the rubber meets the road and we get into the growing season, growers do not have it in them to withhold something from the crop that it needs. Once the seed is in the ground, they strive to make the best crop possible, regardless if it sells for 60 cents or $2.

Since most people want to cut up front, the major thing I am talking about is seeding rates. There could potentially be room to cut there, but data across multiple locations in Georgia suggests that the 25,000 to 30,000 seed-per-acre range is our sweet spot for high yield and net returns. But, it isn’t about the number of seed you put in the ground; it’s about how many come up! You all know your fields and know what you need to do to get a stand, so don’t put yourself in a bad spot right out the gate. I would hate for anyone to get the “opportunity” to replant, especially in a year like 2025.

As always, if you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your local University of Georgia county Extension agent. We’re here to help! camphand@uga.edu

ALABAMA | Scott H. Graham

Long gone is the snow that covered much of Alabama a couple of weeks ago. Somehow, it feels like we could start planting cotton as I write this (Feb. 3); however, the groundhog tells us we have six more weeks of winter. I have read that Punxsutawney Phil is only right about 40% of the time, so when this comes out, we will know how he did this year.

At times, I feel like P. Phil trying to figure out how many acres Alabama will plant in 2025. Regardless of whether the answer is 500 or 500,000, the focus for all involved in growing the crop should be the same: review every input to ensure every dollar spent is profitable. The only complication is that cotton is a difficult crop to grow when “saving money.”

The best way to overcome low commodity prices is still to make the highest yields possible. Keep that in mind when evaluating ways to save. Seeding rates and fertilizers can be cut to a point, but not too far. Plant protection products (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides) are a little harder to cut back on. The primary focus here should be good timing and using recommended rates. Cutting back on rates may save a couple of dimes but doesn’t help in the long run.

Hopefully you have attended some Extension meetings this year and got some good tips and insights on how you can cut back on your operation. If not, or if you’re still thinking, reach out to your local Extension agent or a specialist. We are all here to help! scottg@auburn.edu

MISSISSIPPI | Brian Pieralisi

As I write this on Feb. 4, it’s hard to believe we are talking about planting the 2025 cotton crop. We’ve had some very warm temperatures for about one week and the next two weeks appear to be unusually warm. Obviously, spring is rolling in and we will have to see if it’s a “lion” or a “lamb.”

The latest drought monitor does show some relief from the drought; however, portions of Mississippi are still in a drought, and it will take a bit more rainfall to flip the needle. We are in a little better shape than last year, so I am optimistic that we will be in the black in terms of moisture by May planting season.

Cotton prices have been stagnant for December futures, and profitability seems grim in all row crops. Hedging against risk by trying to lower input costs while maximizing yield is a sound management plan. However, it’s much easier to type than to pull it off in the field. With input prices high and market prices below where most growers pencil in a profit, it is likely that Mississippi acres will remain relatively flat in the 450,000-acre range. I have visited with fellow cotton specialists in other states as well as local growers, and slightly reducing both seeding rates and nitrogen rates is a way to reduce costs on the front end. This also creates a scenario that could ultimately influence other management practices such as plant growth regulators and insecticide applications, or possibly increase defoliation efficacy.

It is all about devising a plan that works for your operation, as well as a management strategy that you have full confidence in that it will work. I hope 2025 is a great year for all stakeholders in the cotton industry! Best of luck! bkp4@msstate.edu

ARKANSAS | Zachary Treadway

As I write this on Feb. 4, we are fully in meeting season. Between society meetings and county meetings, I am keeping the roads pretty hot. County production meetings are a great opportunity to get out and hear what your Extension specialists have to say concerning the previous year and the year to come. It is a great time to ask questions and bring to light any concerns you may have. So, make sure to get out and attend your local production meeting.

The prompt for this edition of Specialists Speaking is “Last-Minute Tips to get Primed for Planting.” Here in Arkansas, we just experienced several days with highs in the mid-70s that got everyone a little antsy for spring, but alas, there is the possibility for snow in the next week. Though we aren’t ready to pull the planters out just yet, now is the time to go through those machines and implements that will be so critical in a few short months. Maintenance and service now will go a long way toward keeping us in the field instead of the shop during prime planting time.

It is also time to be finalizing variety decisions for our acres in 2025. There is a plethora of information from across the belt to utilize when making those decisions. Both large plot variety trials and OVT data are valuable tools to aid in choosing the best varieties for your operation. Once those variety decisions have been made, it is valuable to look at the germination data from the seed lots you receive. The weather can have a mind of its own during the spring, and the cool germination data can give an insight on how a variety will perform if the weather takes an unfavorable turn after planting. We are getting closer by the day, and we will be putting seed in the ground before you know it. As always, if there is anything I can do, please reach out: ztreadway@uada.edu

OKLAHOMA | Jennifer Dudak

Oklahoma cotton acres are estimated to be around 460,000 acres in 2025, which is a slight increase from 2024. After three consecutive years of widespread crop failure in the irrigation district due to drought, we’re going into 2025 more optimistic with enough water in Lake Altus for at least one irrigation event.

With the uncertainty of the fate of some post-emergence herbicides, I would highly encourage our producers to focus on the use of residuals both PRE and POST. Under ideal conditions, most residual products utilized in cotton production offer between three to four weeks of acceptable weed control. Although we must take into consideration the economics of our applications, I would encourage tank mixing residual products when possible. Having two products in the tank increases the number of weed species controlled and can stretch that window of control past the typical three to four weeks.

Prior to making a PRE residual application would be an opportune time to consider adding a residual herbicide into your in-season weed management plans to avoid duplicating modes of action within the same growing season. POST residual applications will help suppress in-season weed pressure, alleviating some of the reliance we have on the typical POST products, and can reduce the number of POST applications made. As always, please read the herbicide label before making an application and remember, the best way to keep a field clean throughout the season is to start clean. jdudak@okstate.edu

TEXAS | Ken Legé

Cotton growers are facing many uncertainties going into the 2025 season, including Farm Bill legislation, disaster assistance programs, dicamba labels, tariffs and La Nina weather patterns to name a few. One thing is certain: when May arrives in West Texas, there will be a significant amount of acreage planted to cotton. Now’s the time to begin preparing for the season. Despite challenges, we’ve been blessed to have no drought conditions, and feedback from consultants and agents who have been deep sampling says moisture throughout the profile has been confirmed across the region.

Some of the first decisions may involve wheat cover crops, and whether to graze, bring to grain, graze and grain or simply burn it down this spring as a cover crop for either improved soil health and/or wind erosion abatement purposes. Not far behind that decision is choosing your residual herbicide system, which in springtime should look generally the same regardless of which herbicide technology you will be growing in-season. Good weed control in-season invariably starts with a robust residual herbicide system during the late winter/early spring.

One of the most important decisions you’ll make is selecting the right variety for each field. Unless you’re growing one single field of cotton, you most likely should be selecting more than one variety. Each field’s characteristics, such as soil texture, water availability, pathogen presence, tillage practice, etc., may require a unique variety to address those needs. While yield potential is most certainly at the top of the list, other important factors include maturity and fiber quality; for West Texas, the most important fiber quality parameters are staple length and micronaire, as those are the two traits for which we most often are discounted and which are controlled somewhat by genetics.

Seedling vigor is also important and is more than simply choosing a large-seeded variety. While vigor can be correlated with seed size, there are other vigor-related factors, such as oil content and oil composition, and perhaps other unknown factors associated with variety. Related to seedling vigor is seed quality. Each bag or box will have 80% on the tag, a minimum standard for warm germination required by federal and Texas state seed laws. A simple phone call or text to your ag retailer or seed company representative will get you the actual warm germination and cool germination of the specific lot of seed you purchased. Our Texas A&M AgriLife High Plains budgets suggest that seed costs account for about 6% to 14% of the total variable costs, so knowing the actual seed quality of the lot you spent a few thousand dollars for is surely worth a phone call. Knowing this information will help you make a more informed decision on when and how to plant that lot of seed. Having a uniformly spaced and uniformly aged stand of cotton is important. Seed quality information helps you get there.

Because everything in West Texas is affected by water availability, knowing a variety’s water response is key. It is rare to find a variety that will perform equally well from tough dryland conditions to high-irrigation-capacity fields. Some varieties perform best under dryland-to-light irrigation capacities and don’t have top-end yield potential under moderate-to-high irrigation capacities, while others are opposite; that is, they perform best under moderate-to-high irrigation capacities, but not so well on the drier side of the water spectrum. AgriLife has some data to guide growers, but also check with your seed company agronomists, as they likely have more years of data to help guide you.

Choosing a herbicide technology system will likely give many growers the most difficulty in 2025 with the uncertainties surrounding the labels for over-the-top dicamba herbicides on XtendFlex cotton varieties. A label for 2025 does not appear likely for dicamba; similarly, a label for BASF’s HPPD inhibitor herbicide, Axant ISO for Axant Flex technology seed also appears unlikely for 2025. The cotton industry is fortunate to have other labeled options for in-season weed control, namely the Enlist system from Corteva/PhytoGen. Nearly all companies have glyphosate and glufosinate traits allowing for over-the-top, in-season applications of those two tools. If you are facing a herbicide technology switch for 2025, now is the time to do some homework on what that will mean for your operation. Help is available from a number of sources, including AgriLife Extension, ag retailers, your seed company agronomists, consultants, etc.  Make a plan now so you won’t be surprised when it matters most.

Knowing disease and nematode resistance traits for each variety is also key. There are numerous options for root-knot and reniform nematode resistance traits from multiple seed companies. Genetic resistance traits are your best and most economical approach to combatting nematodes. Bacterial blight resistance is your only option to protect your crop from an outbreak. Every seed company has varieties that are resistant, and that resistance is very strong… near immunity in some varieties. In West Texas, Verticillium wilt can be a problem in some fields. While we have genetic tolerance, it is certainly not immunity. That is, even the most tolerant variety can still have symptomology under heavy Vert pressure. This is a trait breeders must observe in the field and select by sight; in other words, there are no molecular markers for Vert tolerance. Since we haven’t had a strong Vert year in at least three years in West Texas, growers should know that breeders and agronomists may not have much confidence in a new variety’s Vert response, as there hasn’t been much pressure with which to characterize that new variety’s Vert tolerance. AgriLife researchers and seed companies have done their best to describe the Vert status of new varieties, but we won’t have more confidence until we see their responses under heavy pressure.

With such uncertainty in the market, it is very tempting to buy the cheapest variety and hope for the best. This reminds me of an old adage: you generally get what you pay for. While price is an important factor for variety selection, it shouldn’t be the primary factor. Purchasing a more economically priced variety may be a wise and legitimate business strategy for some of your fields. Generally, the lower-priced varieties tend to be older genetics. If 2025 ends up being the one or two years out of 10 that have good rainfall and produce a very good dryland crop, just realize the lower-priced variety you may have planted may not have top-end yield potential compared to a more elite variety your neighbor planted. Have realistic expectations.

Now is the time to study the details and make a plan. With disappointing commodity prices, high input prices and the overall state of the economy, growers can’t afford to make mistakes. Time spent studying the details now will pay off in the end. ken.lege@ag.tamu.edu

TEXAS | Ben McKnight

As temperatures begin to rise and the month of March approaches, cotton planting gets underway in South Texas. Typically, if environmental conditions are favorable for planting, growers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley will begin getting the 2025 cotton crop in the ground beginning in late February. Further north in the Coastal Bend, cotton planting is usually well underway by mid-March. As I write this on Feb. 4, both of these cotton production regions have mostly dry soil moisture conditions and some additional rainfall to round out February would be very beneficial for replenishing soil moisture ahead of planting.

As final plans are being pieced together for the upcoming year, I’d like to highlight a few reminders on planting conditions. There is a strong correlation between cotton seedling emergence and environmental conditions at planting and the days following planting. Ultimately, if conditions are marginal with cool air and soil temps in store for the week following planting, delaying planting until more favorable conditions return should enhance the time between planting and successful seedling emergence.

Check with your seed company representatives and distributors and ask to obtain warm and cool germination values for the seed you purchased. Often, the springtime weather in Texas can have drastic swings in temperatures. Planting seed with a higher seedling vigor as indicated by warm and cool germination values on the front end and rounding out final plantings with seed having lesser seedling vigor will often help to achieve a consistent, uniform plant stand across the entire farm. bmcknight@tamu.edu

ARIZONA | Randy Norton

As temperatures begin to warm up, decisions are being made about planting windows. There are a lot of things that go into having a successful planting season, many of which are not in our direct control. However, through acquiring appropriate information, decisions can be made to increase the success of your planting season. Among the appropriate information to consider for planting are minimum daily soil temperature at planting depth and the current three-to-five-day weather forecast.

Seeds, as biological organisms respond to temperature. Under cool soil temperatures (less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit), physiological processes required for proper germination begin to slow, dramatically reducing the chance for successful seedling emergence. Emergence slowed by cool soil temperatures results in seedlings being more susceptible to fungal pathogens such as rhizoctonia.

Increased incidence of seedling disease is highly correlated to sub-optimum soil temperatures at planting. Also, seed with lower cool germ tests will have the potential to struggle even more under less-than-optimum planting conditions. It is important to obtain that quality information on the seed lots you are planting to help make more sound management decisions. Warm germination and seed vigor test data from every lot of seed is available from your seed retailer. Minimum soil temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and preferably above 65 degrees Fahrenheit and a nice, warm forecast will greatly enhance the likelihood of successful stand establishment. With the current and seemingly ever-increasing price of seed, well-informed decisions about planting are never more important. rnorton@cals.arizona.edu