By Clint Thompson
Georgia cotton farmers started the season amid a prolonged drought. Those dry conditions have returned in recent weeks as the crop continues to make progress this summer.
The Georgia Cotton Commission and Wes Porter, University of Georgia Professor in Crop and Soil Sciences, remind growers about the crop’s water needs at this point in the production season.
“We’re at what I would call peak water use now or close to it. We’re moving out of square and into bloom,” Porter said. “I think we’ve probably got about, I think 15% to 20% of crops in bloom and almost all of it is at least almost in the squaring. So that’s ramping up pretty high on our water use curve really quickly.”
Growers need to be smart about how they are applying their irrigation. It is best to spread out the irrigation applications over the course of a week instead of just at one time.
“I’ve had this conversation with a couple of different growers, depending on your capacity of your system and the time it takes to apply it, don’t go under 1/3 of an inch, but don’t go over a full inch. And the more you can break that up, the better off you are,” Porter said. “When we break those events up and we keep that soil moisture to more stable or even level, that’s going to help us out. Like if you come in and say, ‘Well, I’ve got a system, I can put out an inch real fast and put out an inch on Monday, and then don’t do anything until Saturday.’
“It’s going to dry that shallow subsurface moisture out and it’s going to raise surface temperatures. It’s going to do a lot of things to put that plant in stress. But if we take that one inch and divide it over about two applications or potentially three applications, that’ll help keep you at a more stable moisture where it’s more useful to the plant, keeps the shallow moisture there. There’s a lot of benefits from those more micro shots.”
Drought Monitor
The July 9 release of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows Georgia is still experiencing dry conditions in the southern and northern areas of the state. Moderate drought in South Georgia starts in the southern halves of Grady and Thomas counties, expands eastward to Charlton, Camden and Glynn counties, and northeastward to Bulloch and Screven counties. Abnormal drought in South Georgia starts in Decatur and Seminole counties and expands northeastward to Jenkins and Burke counties.