Cotton planting mostly on schedule

Cotton here on the west portion of the Southern High Plains of Texas is mostly planted. There are dryland acres which still need to be planted as soon as it dries enough to get back in the field and before the planting deadline. We have been blessed with some significant rainfall the past few days, making prospects for a crop more realistic. This weather has thrown us a curve ball in the completion of planting and may cause some to divert acres to alternative crops such as grain sorghum or corn.

Cotton stand evaluations are our next priority as we visit fields. Most of our cotton acres are on 40-inch rows, so we generally count the number of plants in 13 feet of row (1/ 1000th of an acre). We would consider 26 plants (2 plants per foot) in that 13-foot 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 consider your insurance standing and a replant.

The moisture will need to continue to keep us out of the drought status. However, our status has much improved, and producers are going to have to step up their weed control programs. We are seeing weed pressure already in planted fields, meaning that no residual had been applied yet and that a post-emerge herbicide like Roundup, Liberty, XtendiMax or Enlist will need to be used along with the addition of a residual herbicide.

Another issue which producers will need to recalculate due to recent rains is their fertilizer program matched up with a new realistic yield goal. We often do this recalculation too late in June or July and are behind the growth curve to do much good and can cause delay in cotton plant maturity. Now is the time to react to these rains.

Insect pest wise, rains normally increase pest pressure for us as it increases overall plant hosts. Although it is very quiet on the insect front currently, do not let your guard down. As an example, currently for us locally, thrips have been almost non-existent. As this cotton has been slow to grow-off and many acres are just now emerging, thrips could rapidly develop and be devastating. Fields must be scouted! A good field scout can sure pay, especially in these tight times.

Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran and Lamb Counties, providing education and applied research for weeds, insects, diseases, nematodes, growth regulators and harvest aids in cotton. He is a member of the High Plains Association of Crop Consultants.