By Clint Thompson
Increased rains across South Georgia in recent weeks have prevented some cotton growers from completing much needed field work.
The Georgia Cotton Commission and Camp Hand, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension cotton agronomist, caution producers about returning to a wet and soggy field too soon. That would make matters worse.
“Try not to get out there too early and make a mess. Bogging down in a field will have lasting impacts and you don’t want to get out there too early if you don’t have to, right? And so, I mean, don’t just sit around waiting forever, but give it give it as long as you can before you go out there and risk making a mess,” Hand said.
According to the UGA Automated Weather Network, Tifton, Georgia, received 4.72 inches of rainfall from June 15 to June 22. Albany, Georgia, received 4.01 inches during the same timeframe, while Waycross, Georgia, received 5.37 inches.
“Yeah, I’d say right now, most everywhere is wet. Some places are worse than others, right? Coffee County and East Berrien (County) are just hammered, right?” Hand said. “I mean, they’re underwater. I got a picture from Terrell County yesterday of some fields that are underwater. It’s crazy that in a month we’ve gone from being way too dry to like, all right, we could use a break.”
Hand said that the rains have prevented some growers from planting the rest of their crop. Also, producers have not been able to properly maintain weeds in their fields.
“If you hadn’t been in the field doing weed control, man, you can get behind on that in a hurry whenever the weather’s like this. And then whenever it comes to using certain pesticide products, I mean, we’re starting to enter the heat of summer here,” Hand said. “Some of our products have temperature restrictions now. We’re getting to the time where we could start losing the ability to use some of those things. You start getting a little concerned about weed control and weed escapes and stuff like that with as wet as it’s been.”