By Clint Thompson
Cotton harvests are about 70% to 75% complete in Georgia.
The Georgia Cotton Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Extension Cotton Team are providing guidance for growers managing the remaining crop.
Camp Hand, UGA Extension cotton agronomist, discussed what he’s hearing from county Extension agents.
“One thing I’m hearing from some county agents about, they’re trying to figure out what to do defoliation wise. At this point, I’d be looking at using the max labeled rate on a lot of these products to knock the leaves off and get the bolls opened. It’s going to take a little bit longer for those products to work. Instead of two weeks, you’re looking at three or four probably. That’s one thing I would do,” Hand said.
“Two, just stay timely with harvests. We’ve done really good with getting our crop out. But at any second this weather could turn and start raining and won’t stop. We just need to be timely with harvests. All the yields I’ve heard are really good. The quality up until now has been absolutely incredible. Overall, I think we’ve done a really good job with that. Let’s keep that in the back of our minds as we move forward.”
Defoliation products require additional time to work effectively under cooler weather conditions.
“It’s just these cold temperatures that we’ve got; lows in the 30s and highs in the 60s for the foreseeable future. It just takes a little longer for those things to work,” Hand said.