Timeliness Key to Successful Cotton Season

Clint Thompson Georgia Cotton Commission (GCC)

File photo shows cotton ready to be picked on the UGA Tifton campus. By Clint Thompson 9-23-19

By Clint Thompson

The Georgia Cotton Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Cotton Team remind producers to be timely with defoliation and harvest for this year’s crop.

UGA Extension cotton agronomist Camp Hand discusses the state of the cotton crop and what growers should be considering amid the peak of storm season.

“I would say that the crop is early. Everything that I’m seeing is about 7 to 10 days especially if it was planted in May or April even. All of that stuff is fairly early. We need to be getting out there and looking at it,” Hand said. “It scares me when (meteorologist) Chris Zelman starts posting pictures and there’s four (storm) systems in the Atlantic that he’s keeping an eye on. So definitely being timely with all of that stuff and making sure we’re defoliating at the right time and harvesting in a timely manner after that.

“If it’s possible, I would advise people to split their crew up. I know that peanuts, it’s a little bit easier to put a number on what you’re losing if you don’t get a peanut crop on time, but just as early as this cotton crop is we need to be ready to get it. I think it would be wise, if you have the labor force, to split it up. Have one crew get peanuts and one crew get cotton.”