Defoliation has begun – or is ready to begin – in most areas across the Southeast, Mid-South, and Central Texas. Early harvest reports show decent yields, with concerns remaining about the impact of hard lock and other issues in areas that caught tropical rains in the past two weeks. The lower Southeast is at a standstill following those rains and is bracing for another round of storms later this week. Cotton across the South Plains of Texas looks good, with defoliation planning underway. That area is still about 2-3 weeks away from harvesting.
This is our final Crop Scan Ag Report for the 2024 season. Many thanks to Kerry Siders for his contributions and cooperation. Here’s what he had to report for late September.
Cotton here on the Texas South Plains is still in between taking advantage of those last days of sunshine, heat-units, and an occasional rain shower, and being ready for a harvest aid to prepare for harvest. There is a very small percentage of cotton which is ready for a harvest aid but, come the second week of October, things will get busy. Yields will not be what we need nor is the price, but we are blessed to have the best growers on the job who will make the best of it.
Ethephon at a quart is the backbone of most all our harvest aid applications. Then, it is a matter of selecting your favorite defoliant. The defoliation products all generally work well here. I remind producers to pay attention to what the manufacturers recommend as adjuvants with these products, particularly the PPO’s (Aim, ETX, Sharpen, and Reviton). To deviate can cause poor performance.
Also, some defoliants can be temperature sensitive. As it cools, some of the defoliants such as Ginstar, may require a bump in rate. That leaves us with the desiccants, which are primarily paraquat products. Again, I remind producers that paraquat is activated by sunlight. If it is applied early in the day, it will generally result in a rapid burn of the plant tissue and result in typical desiccation (sticking of leaves). Versus an application applied later in the day, the paraquat will move deeper in the plant tissue (local systemic or translaminar movement). This can result in both desiccation and additional defoliation. Have a safe harvest.