By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Cotton Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Extension Cotton Team encourage producers that the time is now to go ahead and defoliate any remaining crop. The weather is not getting any warmer, says UGA Extension cotton agronomist Camp Hand.
“In the next 14 days, I can count on three fingers the number of days that are going to get out of the 60s. There’s no point in waiting any longer than we already have. Let’s go on and pull the trigger, try to get something out of it because if it gets much colder then we’re losing efficacy with our defoliants, and it’s going to be harder to get anything open than it currently is,” Hand said. “We just need to go on and pull the trigger and have it ready to go so we can get it.”
Hand estimates that 70% of Georgia’s cotton crop has been harvested.
“We’ve had incredible weather for getting it done,” Hand said. “I feel like folks have been knocking it out and getting it done.”