By Clint Thompson
Cover crops have served their purpose. Cotton growers, who are on the verge of planting their crop this year, need to go ahead and kill their cover crops to preserve what moisture remains in the soils.
That’s the message shared by the Georgia Cotton Commission and Camp Hand, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension cotton agronomist, amid worsening drought conditions across South Georgia.
Hand reinforced the message he emphasized a couple of weeks ago; growers should kill what cover crops remain in the field.
“That stuff needs to be dead. It needs to be dead, dead, just because if it’s green, it’s using moisture. We don’t need it stealing stuff we don’t have,” Hand said.
According to the April 16 release of the U.S. Drought Monitor, exceptional drought conditions are observed in southwest Georgia in Seminole and Decatur counties; expands eastward to Charlton, Brantley, Pierce and Wayne counties; and expands northward to Candler, Bulloch and Emanuel counties.