17 minute read
Specialists Speaking
2022 Harvest Update
NORTH CAROLINA Keith Edmisten
Growers should be checking fields for boll maturity to get an idea of which fields can be defoliated first. The easiest way to get a good start scheduling fields for defoliation is to check for nodes above cracked boll (NACB). Just like scouting for insects, you should get a random sample of the field as some areas may be more or less mature than others. Generally, it is safe to defoliate when NACB is four or less.
To measure NACB, you find plants with a boll cracked open enough to see some lint and count the nodes from there to the highest harvestable boll. It is a good idea to check further by cutting some of the youngest harvestable bolls to make sure that the seed is developed and that the seed coat is turning brown.
On skippy stands, you need to consider not only the top portion of the crop, but also look at younger bolls down in the canopy on outer positions and vegetative branches. Starting defoliation on time can get the pickers in the field to take advantage of longer days to shorten the harvest period and minimize losses. keith_edmisten@ncsu.edu
TENNESSEE Tyson Raper
As I write this Sept. 10, only a handful of acres have received a harvest aid application. Our earliest planted acres will likely see applications next week as the forecast moves into what appears to be a warm, dry window. Temperatures in September have been milder than average, but we all hope the warming trend holds through October.
August made clear that the yield potential of our later planted dryland acres far exceeds that of our earliest planted dryland acres, but just how good those late-planted acres will be hinges upon our length of season. Most canopies are full of juvenile growth, and some already have basal regrowth. Thidiazuron will be our product of choice until nighttime temperatures slip out of the 60s due to its effectiveness on this type of growth.
Because of our season, I don’t expect much control of regrowth — even at high rates. Timing the picker behind the sprayer is going to be very important this year until temperatures fall into the 50s. I’ll be updating recommendations as we move through September and into October, so check news.utcrops.com periodically for that information.
traper@utk.edu
GEORGIA Camp Hand
As I write this Sept. 9, we are currently in a weather pattern in Georgia no one wants to be in if you are in agriculture. Overcast, extremely humid and rainy almost every day. We have even had some flooding in the past week in the northern part of the state. My hope is that we exit this weather pattern sooner rather than later so we can really get going on some of this cotton.
Historically, by the first week of October, Georgia growers have harvested approximately 13% of their crop according to the USDA Crop Progress Report. As I’ve mentioned in my previous Specialists Speaking comments, our 2022 crop is ahead of schedule in my opinion, so I hope we are at or above that number by the time you are reading this. I know of a few fields in South Georgia that have been defoliated in the first week of September, so it is only a matter of time before we get started.
As we approach defoliation and harvest, one thing I have been mentioning is that we have too much money tied up in this crop. Many growers tell me it is the most money they have ever spent growing a cotton crop. Let’s be timely with defoliation and harvest, get the crop out of the field and on the gin yard and get our growers paid.
As always, your local UGA county Extension agent and specialists are here to help! Reach out if you have any questions. camphand@uga.edu
FLORIDA David Wright
Timely harvest keeps quality and yield of cotton. October is generally the driest month of the year, and the number of daylight hours are limited as growers try to finish harvest. Tropical storms and hurricanes can ruin the crop if you are harvesting other crops while cotton should be harvesting. Cotton, peanut and soybean will generally finish up in October aside from late-planted crops harvested in November. It is very critical to take advantage of good harvest days since November is cooler and takes longer for the dew to dry off. Harvest capacity for all crops should be sufficient for maximum quality and yield.
Defoliating cotton under cool conditions later in the fall is different than defoliating in September and early October. Rates of harvest aids should increase to expect the same kind of results as you received earlier in the season. Most cotton should be picked by late October. The number of harvestable acres decreases rapidly due to short days and cooler temperatures, which also results in a longer time to dry out after rains.
Many growers plant cover crops after harvest/stalk mowing. Fields can be leveled with a harrow if ruts were formed in the growing season or at harvest. If fields are to be grazed, cover crops should be planted as soon as possible following harvest to expect early grazing. If all operations are done using no-till, and cotton is to be planted again the next year, precision placement of rows can make a difference in yield the following year. By moving rows from the previous year’s row to the row middles, yields can be increased by 25% to 35%. Nematodes can also survive on cotton roots and grow until mid-December if this is not done.
Timeliness is critical for each operation to make the best quality and yield. wright@ufl.edu
ALABAMA Steve M. Brown
Early in September, it’s difficult to accurately predict what kind of crop we’ll gin. Past years have demonstrated that September and October, which rank among our driest periods according to long-term data, can steal our crop because of inclement weather. Late August was not kind to many because of extended cloudy days, frequent showers and subsequent hard lock and boll rot. In early September, we experienced a few days of sunshine and then more cloudy weather and scattered rainfall. So much for weather averages.
Harvest is often a time of RUSH. Hurry up; get ‘er done! Let’s pick this crop. I’m all for that, but it must include attention to safety, especially on the road as equipment moves from field to field.
In that regard, I climbed in a pickup with a farmer this summer to look at stand problems and quickly realized I shared the front seat with a rifle and a shotgun. I assumed the firearms were for hog control, but when asked, the farmer let me know he stuck one out the window when impatient motorists blew the horn behind his crew as they moved equipment
along the back roads and highways. I assumed he was kidding.
In recent months, I’ve followed minutes behind two collisions involving 18-wheelers and farm equipment. e rst occurred in June at the end of planting. On a wide, four-lane highway with a signi cant grassy median and perfect visibility, a big tractor-trailer truck clipped a planter. e planter was damaged but nothing more, and, thankfully, no one was hurt.
A second event occurred in August on the same highway a few miles north of the earlier accident. An 18-wheeler with a atbed trailer carrying copper collided squarely with a large John Deere sprayer. e truck front hit both back tires/legs of the sprayer and totaled truck and sprayer, but the truck looked considerably worse. A er I weaved around debris on the highway, I encountered multiple law enforcement and emergency vehicles headed to the site. I heard later no one was seriously injured, which was rather remarkable given the severity of damage.
Farm equipment and vehicle collisions usually end much worse for the farmer. Be safe. cottonbrown@auburn.edu
MISSISSIPPI Brian Pieralisi
As I write this Sept. 9, we are toeing the line between defoliation and harvest. Some harvest aids were applied this week, but most growers are waiting until next week (Sept. 12). Scattered showers and thunderstorms compromised these applications in some areas, forcing most growers to wait on better conditions. is year’s crop is earlier than the past few years, and we will have pickers in the eld by Sept. 15. Cotton harvest in Mississippi should be in full swing by the third week in September. Weather from now through October is critical to the success of the 2022 crop. is year’s crop has experienced tough environmental conditions from the start, and it’s only gotten progressively worse since last month.
Late August rains comprised every acre of Mississippi cotton to some degree. A slow-moving weather system brought torrential rainfall and ash ooding to central and southern Mississippi, including the black prairie and the south Delta regions. e degree of damage was directly related to the level of rainfall, which resulted in back-water ooding and prolonged wet conditions. Most every eld has a level of boll rot and hard-locked bolls low in the canopy. Depending on the maturity of the crop, most of the damage is slight to moderate.
Cotton that was not opening had minimal damage, but some elds were cracking on the bottom ve to eight nodes, which is concerning. Back-water ooding from rivers and creeks, including the Pearl River, submerged eld crops in Mississippi for over a week, resulting in far greater damage to the crops. North and central Mississippi received much less rainfall, but the prolonged wet, foggy conditions contributed to boll rot; however, the level of damage was much less severe compared to areas south of Highway 82.
Despite the weather, we are moving forward with a favorable forecast aligning with the onset of cotton harvest '22. Hopefully, this forecast will remain true, and we can put this year’s crop in the record books. Good luck! bkp4@msstate.edu
ARKANSAS Bill Robertson
We are quickly approaching the nish line with this cotton crop. e hot dry summer moved cotton toward cutout faster than some wanted to see. Rainfall and a break in temperatures the end of July and into August gave our crop second wind. Moving into September, the plants were very active and will need an almost-perfect September for a good nish. e Crop Production report for Arkansas released in September by USDA-NASS estimated cotton production at 1.6 million bales, 365,000 bales above last year. Based on conditions as of Sept. 1, yield is expected to average 1,219 lbs. per harvested acre, down 29 lbs. from 2021. Planted acreage is revised to 640,000 acres, up 140,000 acres from June 2022.
If the current yield projection stands, it will rank as our second highest yield on record. Our ve-year lint yield average is 1,184 lbs. per harvested acre. Lint yields the last three years have been our best three on record.
As mid-September rolled around, we were just getting our defoliation underway. Heat unit accumulation appears to be following a more normal trend and generally fades fast in October. e 2022 crop is likely our most expensive we’ve ever produced. We’ve seen a great number of challenges thrown at us, and there are still challenges we must be prepared to address as the season comes to an end. Get cover crops on your radar if they are not part of your current plan. We all look forward to seeing how this season wraps up as we make plans for 2023. brobertson@uada.edu
A er a tough environmental season, cotton farmers are beginning to defoliate elds in preparation for harvest.
TEXAS Murilo Maeda
As discussed in past issues of Cotton Farming, we’ve seen large abandonment this year due to the lack of adequate moisture during most of the fall and winter through planting. e last o cial FSA certi ed acre numbers came out Aug. 22 and really illustrate the brutal reality in West Texas (1N and 1S regions) this year. According to that report, West Texas growers seeded 4.56 million acres of cotton in 2022, of which 60% were dryland and 40% were irrigated.
Overall, FSA noted in their report a total of 1.88 million and 628 thousand acres (dryland and irrigated, respectively) failed across the region. is represents 55% of our total certi ed planted acres. While there is some good cotton in the region, there are also dryland acres in poor condition still standing that may (or may not) end up being harvested. However, ither way we look at it, it is safe to say production from West Texas will be severely impacted this year.
For some good news — as I write this in early September — we have recently seen widespread rains in West Texas. A bit too late to make a big di erence on overall production, yes, but this will help us nish most of the crop we have in the eld while providing a much-needed break for irrigation wells that have been running around the clock since planting. Most of the region received about as much, if not more, rain in the past 15 days or so than what we had seen from January through the end of June this year. For reference, we o cially recorded 4.9 inches of rain in Lubbock during that period. While you are very unlikely to see anyone around here complaining about rain, excessive moisture this late in the season can create issues with plant regrowth and challenging defoliation conditions. is is something we will be keeping a close eye on.
Our updated 2022 harvest aid guide is available on the Lubbock.tamu. edu website. As we progress into the late season, we’ll be looking for some warm, open weather to help us nish this crop. Hopefully, conditions will also be favorable for an e cient harvest season. As it is customary this time of year, we start seeing an uptick in farm machinery moving around. Please remain patient, and stay safe out there. mmaeda@ag.tamu.edu
LOUISIANA Matt Foster
Cotton defoliation began in some areas of the state during the latter part of August. Only around 1% of the crop has been harvested as of Sept. 9. e Louisiana cotton crop faced hot and dry conditions for most of the growing season but was plagued with excessive rainfall during the month of August. Preliminary seed counts per lock are averaging lower than usual, most likely due to stress from the hot and dry conditions. Wet and cloudy conditions have delayed defoliation and harvest operations in most areas of the state. Fields that had open bolls were most susceptible to damage from the rainfall. I’ve seen some elds with substantial target spot, boll rot, sprouting and hardlock. Regrowth has been a tremendous problem and is making defoliation more challenging. What was once a promising cotton crop is slowly going downhill.
About 75% of this year’s crop is in the fair-to-good range with state yields estimated to average around 800 to 875 lbs. of lint per acre. However, only time will tell. Most growers that I’ve spoken with were optimistic about their crop prior to the excessive rainfall but now have a di erent outlook. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate, and we can get this crop out of the eld. mfoster@agcenter.lsu.edu
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Stoneville Celebrates A Century Of Cotton
BY CARROLL SMITH
EDITOR
When George B. Walker and his partners launched the Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company in 1922, his business plan was simple: “To increase the economic value of an acre of cotton.”
To recognize the cotton brand’s 100year legacy and service to growers, a Stoneville Celebration was held recently in the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi.
Some notable Stoneville varieties include: Stoneville 213 — 1961 ST 474 — 1994 BXN 47 — 1998 ST 4892BR — 2000 ST 4946GLB2 — 2008
Looking Back
“We are standing on hallowed ground,” said Don Threet, Cotton Operations Manager for BASF. “Stoneville was born here at the Delta Branch Experiment Station.”
During his 32-year career with Stoneville, Threet has witnessed six changes of ownership, held 10 key positions and participated in many memorable experiences.
“I was involved in the development of the BXN-Buctril System, which was the first genetically engineered trait in a field crop,” he said. “We worked side by side with Rhone Poulenc even though we were two completely different companies. They had the chemical (herbicide), and we had the trait and varieties. It was exciting to see a large chemical company and a small seed company work together to accomplish this task.”
Threet also recalled an opportunity that arose in the late 1990s for some of the cottonseed companies to enter Upland cottons in the San Joaquin Valley variety trials. Typically, only Acala cottons were allowed to enter.
“We sent BXN 47 out there, and if my memory serves me correctly, there were nine trials and BXN 47 won eight of them and came in second on the ninth trial,” Threet said. “We licensed the BXN trait with CPCSD (California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors), they put it in Maxxa — their most popular variety — and sold it as BXN Nova. We let CPCSD distribute it for us and sold 10,000 bags of cottonseed in two weeks.”
What’s Next?
Steve Nichols, Ph.D., South Region Agronomy Lead for BASF, grew up in the Mississippi Delta and lived there until 2006. His family didn’t farm, but he recalls his first job at age 9 was working for friends of his parents chopping cotton with a hoe.
“That was my way to earn a little money, and it also set the stage for my appreciation of agriculture and the people who work in agriculture,” he said. “After I graduated from Mississippi State, I worked for a consulting company for 16 years, returned to Mississippi State to complete my Ph.D. and went to work for Bayer in 2006.”
During his tenure with Bayer, Nichols had the opportunity to work with the Stoneville and FiberMax brands. BASF acquired the brands in 2018 and for Nichols, the rest is history. Today, he is in on the ground floor of the “next big thing” for BASF and select Stoneville and FiberMax varieties — Axant Flex herbicide trait technology, cotton’s first quadstacked herbicide trait package.
The plan, Nichols said, is to develop varieties well adapted to all growing regions and then place the trait technology in them. He said once the geographic fit is established, then the next step is to determine the best way to manage them.
“That’s how you get the best genetic potential out of these varieties when you understand where to place them and how to manage them,” Nichols said.
“I am excited about the future of Stoneville. But at the end of the day, it’s the grower, the consultant and the Extension and research folks who say, ‘This is a product we will recommend.’ Then you have a sense of pride when you see it performing well on a farm.
“I thank the growers for having confidence in the brand and wanting to plant our varieties.”
Stoneville 2B, which was introduced in 1934, was a very successful variety for the company . One of the original Stoneville 2B seed bags — designed to hold 100 pounds of fuzzy seed — was on display during the celebration of the cotton seed company’s 100th anniversary.
