Water seems to be top of mind across the Cotton Belt. Some areas could still use a few inches to help catch up after the recent heat wave. And in areas where bolls are starting to open, a little rain may do more harm than good. Growers are still managing insect treatments in the Southeast and West Texas, and defoliation is not far off in other areas.
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb Counties:
Cotton is mostly all hard cutout (fewer than 2 nodes above white flower) with only an occasional bloom in the top node. I anticipate seeing cracked bolls before the end of August.
Watering is still the big question for most. Unless you have good size bolls all the way to the top, it would be highly recommended to continue to water at least till the end of August. For some who can irrigate in September, remember that the bolls you want to harvest should not undergo water stress until they are 20 days old. So, if you set your last harvestable bolls on or around Aug. 15, I would stay with irrigation until that first full week of September. After that point, the crop can take moderate stress, wilt in the heat of day, and fully recover by next morning. Once those youngest bolls are 40-45 days old, then it can withstand more severe water stress.
Insect pests in cotton mainly consist of an occasional cotton aphid, a few scattered bollworms in conventional cotton, and some lingering plant bugs. Beneficial insects seem to be staying on top of the aphids. The bollworms are having a hard time doing anything in this heat, as most worm pressure has been drawn towards corn and milo. And plant bug numbers are just not there. So, keep an eye out for at least another week or so, but most acres are nearly out of the woods in terms of being vulnerable to pest damage.
If you are still irrigating and or receive future rain, I would highly encourage you to sample suspect fields for cotton root-knot nematodes. Sampling is much easier and better when you have good soil moisture.