After a wet spell two weeks ago, planters have been playing catch up and are moving quickly across most areas of the Cotton Belt. Thrips, weeds, and other early season pests are starting to catch growers’ attentions as well, and treatments are starting when and where needed.
Here’s what our contributing consultants had to report for early June.
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb Counties.
Cotton here on the western portion of the Southern High Plains of Texas is mostly planted with exception of some dryland acres and replanting of weather damaged acres.
The May 29 storm which blew through portions of Cochran and particularly Hockley County were extremely devasting to crops, pivots, and structures. Please keep all those affected in prayer. The storm brought some rain, but intense large hail and high winds caused great damage. So, things are in flux for a while until weather settles, wind lays, adjusters visit fields, and we get some crop up and making progress.
I want to revisit how we approach cotton stand evaluations. Most of our cotton acres are on 40” rows, so we generally count the number of plants in 13’ of row (1/1000th of an acre). We would consider 26 plants (2 plants per foot) in that 13’ space to be 26,000 plants per acre. This would be a minimum good stand on irrigated cotton. Ideally, your stand would have closer to 40,000 plants per acre or closer to 3 plants per foot. Dryland acres can dip down into the 19,000 range or 1.5 plants per row foot. In either situation, if you get much below these standards, you most likely need to replant cotton if time allows or move to another crop.
Currently, we are scouting for thrips and evaluating wireworm damage. Weeds have been dealt with up till now by planting on clean ground and having at-plant pre’s in place. As we move through June, we will need to supplement this weed control with post and additional pre herbicides.