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 weather came a little early this year. That came to a screeching halt after the first week of May as heavy rains and cooler temperatures prevailed throughout most of the latter part of May.
Planting resumed in late May, and it was a scramble to get all of our acres planted before our crop insurance deadline. With the market the way it was and continues to be, there was little incentive to plant beyond crop insurance deadlines. As such, there are a number of prevented planting acres left fallow this year, which is very rare.
The summer months brought fairly timely rains. Much of the state experienced some severe heat and a short-lived dry spell toward the end of July. Rains in most parts of the state resumed through early to mid-August. At that point, the rains stopped, and cooler-than-normal weather set in. Many were concerned about the lack of heat as it relates to crop maturity during that time; however, it might’ve helped preserve some upper bolls that would’ve otherwise aborted had it been warmer.
Most of the state experienced a noticeable drought from early to mid-August through most of September. A few rains came in late September but were a little late in terms of helping develop more of a top crop. A dry September and October helped us avoid losses due to hardlock. We had a couple of close calls with tropical weather, but thankfully, we were able to avoid that.
Yields are highly variable, which is typical, but this year, it can be correlated to planting date and when exactly rains ceased in August. Lower yields have been observed in areas where rains ceased earlier in August, whereas areas that received some rain through mid-August are seeing noticeably higher yields. Yields have ranged from 800 lbs. to 1500 lbs., and many growers have been pleasantly surprised at how much of the top crop we were able to make in a few places.
The drought during mid-August through September clearly impacted our yields, and one or two more rains around Labor Day would’ve allowed us to hit some homeruns. As I write this on Oct. 28, harvest has been put on hold for a few days due to some badly needed rains sweeping through our state this week. We are out of meaningful heat units, and there’s nothing in the forecast to suggest otherwise. There was a small threat of a frost on Oct. 25, which didn’t happen in most of the state. The first week of November is likely to bring one, which is when we typically expect to see one. Harvest will likely resume shortly after Halloween, and hopefully, we can get the remaining acres relatively quickly.
All in all, this year wasn’t a record, but we have seen a lot worse. Market prices are obviously the greatest concern this year.
December is when growers begin to make variety decisions for next year. There are four On-Farm trials remaining to be harvested, and possibly some OVT locations as well. Results for both of these programs will be discussed during our winter meetings in February, which can be found on https://cotton.ces.ncsu.edu/events/. Trial results can be found in the North Carolina State University Cotton Variety Performance Calculator at https://trials.ces.ncsu.edu/cotton/select_trials/ as soon as results are available.
Guy_Collins@ncsu.edu