Tennessee cotton acreage is down 38 percent from last year. Producers in Tennessee planted 275,000 acres in 2014, and it is reported that 170,000 acres were planted in 2015. We are hopeful that cotton will rebound in Tennessee and...
Editor’s note: In addition to maturity zones 6-7 Credenz soybean varieties for 2016 that appeared in Soybean South, the following Credenz varieties also are suited for the Southern geography. View the 2016 Southern Soybean Variety Roster at www.soybeansouth.com.
Credenz
CZ 5147...
Once the harvest machinery has been parked, most farmers and consultants like to enjoy a little downtime and recreational activities. But before long, it’s time to start thinking about the next season in order to be properly prepared.
Most consultants schedule sessions with their farmer clients during the winter to begin this process since there is a lot of information to disseminate. The hot topic for everyone is how to protect and grow the bottom line in light of low commodity prices. In California, water availability still drives many of the decisions that cotton farmers have to make.
For example, California pest control adviser Larry Gallian, whose consulting career spans more than half a century, says “rain-snow-rain-snow-rain” is the plan that California cotton producers are interested in at this time. Gallian says competing crops, the price of cotton and trees being planted daily on agricultural land are some of the factors that are affecting cotton acreage and production decisions out West.
In other areas of the Cotton Belt, seasoned cotton consultants Bob Glodt, Bob Griffin and Mark Nemec agreed to share some of their top-of-the-list winter planning topics with Cotton Farming magazine.
Charles Burmester
Contract Agronomist
Decatur, Ala.
I was raised on a small farm in Alabama where we always grew cotton and became very familiar with the crop at an early age. In, fact, my mother made me my own “pick sack” when...
It’s The Time Of The Season
Late fall, early winter is the time of the season for slowing down a bit after a hectic harvest and contemplating which varieties will have the best fit in your operation in the upcoming...
In recent years, the presence of glyphosate-resistant pigweed in Mid-South cotton has compelled producers to grow glufosinate (Liberty)-tolerant varieties. In 2015, more than 85 percent of cotton acreage in Arkansas was planted to varieties that are tolerant to glufosinate. This acreage included 11 percent planted to XtendFlex (resistant to dicamba) varieties.
However, dicamba applications beyond the current burndown label were not allowed. Almost half of the transgenic entries in the 2015 Arkansas Cotton Variety Test were resistant to dicamba or 2,4-D (Enlist) – a clear indication of the direction of variety development.
The Enlist trait is fully registered in the United States, and the herbicide is labeled in all Mid-South states except Tennessee. Import approvals for some Far East countries are still being pursued. We expect a limited release of Enlist cotton in 2016. It is expected, but at this point still uncertain whether labels will allow spraying of dicamba beyond burndown on XtendFlex cotton in 2016. Thus, producers should make their variety choices accordingly and follow all label requirements.
Selection of varieties then returns to long-established principles of choosing varieties that are likely to produce stable, high yields of premium quality cotton – regardless of their transgene conf iguration.
The ABCs of variety selection may start with letters behind a variety name denoting insect resistance or herbicide tolerance technology, but they certainly do not end there.
Beyond the letters are complex characteristics controlled by multiple genes – yield, fiber quality, stress response, disease resistance, plant type and relative maturity.
“A” stands for area-appropriate. Consider performance data generated from the same area as your farm. Know specific field production constraints and choose varieties with appropriate disease resistance, nematode tolerance and moisture stress response.
“B” is for broadening risk with more than one variety in more than one maturity class so harvest on large farms can be staggered. Broadened risk improves the odds of catching beneficial rains and avoiding widespread hail damage.
“C” is for control. Stay grounded with input capabilities. Highhorsepower varieties in low-input situations can lead to quality problems. “Control” reminds me of the first cotton farmer to ask my advice on variety selection – my father, who passed away in May. Professional presentation of yield data did not impress him. He told me, “I can make these varieties yield. Show me something with the potential for good fiber quality. I have less control over that.”
ARKANSAS
The National Agricultural Statistics Service October Crop Production report kept the yield estimate for Arkansas cotton at 1,218 lbs lint/A. Last month, I felt this estimate was too high for a number of reasons. However, as our harvest is...
Ken Legé
PhytoGen Cotton Development Specialist
Lubbock, Texas
Prior to joining PhytoGen, I had noticed that the germplasm coming out of PhytoGen’s robust West Texas breeding program that will serve the entire Southwest was producing high, consistent yields and was well suited...
Missouri’s Rone Family Strives For Efficiency
By Tommy Horton
Defoliating and harvesting a cotton crop is like painting a picture. Unless everything is mixed together perfectly, the finished product won’t be that good. Some have even suggested that the entire exercise...
As we begin making plans for our crop production this year, we will be scrutinizing some areas of our production that we haven’t been doing in the past few years. With crop prices the way they are and our...
By Tommy Horton, Editor
How important is cotton production in Georgia? And is it still a viable commodity when prices dip into the 60- cent range? Those are legitimate questions to ask any farmer growing the crop in 2014. And...
The NCC Planting Intentions Survey shows less than a one percent increase in acreage for Missouri. Based on past reports, this may or may not happen with a lot depending on the weather. In the past, I have noticed that the Missouri intentions are usually overestimated.
Call it a Texas home run that was hit out of the ballpark. Or maybe it was the crop season of the decade. Put whatever label fits, and it might come close to describing what happened to Texas producer Robbie Harkey and his cotton crop in 2013.
To the uninformed outsider, it would seem impossible that a producer could deliver a four-bale yield on acreage north of Lubbock near Hale Center
When we look at our USDA estimated yield of 956 pounds per acre, most producers are disappointed. When comparing our yield with some of our other Delta states, we note that their yields were much higher.
In my estimation, we had the potential, but it is hard to overcome the effects of three weeks of heavy rainfall in July and August.
