By Clint Thompson
Cotton plantings are well under way this week across Georgia following much needed rainfall last weekend, which included 2.5 inches in Tifton, Georgia and 3.13 inches in Moultrie, Georgia.
The Georgia Cotton Commission and Camp Hand, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension cotton agronomist, remind growers about the importance of seed depth following multiple inches of rain that was averaged across the region and ahead of additional rains later this week.
“If people were planting (before the rains), they were probably doing it really shallow, trying to dust some stuff in. Right now, we need to be a knuckle deep,” Hand said. “We’re probably going to go a little deeper than what we were if we were planting into really dry dirt. We don’t want to go too deep, especially because we’ve got some other rains in the forecast.
“I wouldn’t go any deeper than three-quarters of an inch.”
Hand admitted that seed depth can be a determining factor in the plant’s success in producing a viable crop.
“You could get the opportunity to revisit a field if you make the wrong decision. Sometimes you need to plant deep, and sometimes you need to plant shallow,” Hand said. “It’s all depending on the situation that you’re in with moisture and forecasted rain.”