By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Cotton Commission’s (GCC) mid-year meeting in late July provided University of Georgia Extension specialists an opportunity to update growers about this season’s crop, including the weather’s impact, cotton jassid and plant growth regulators.
The annual meeting, held on July 29 in Statesboro, Georgia, allowed Camp Hand, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension cotton agronomist, to address multiple issues impacting the progression of Georgia’s cotton crop and what producers need to be thinking about moving forward.
“Some of the things that we’re thinking about right now, particularly where we have good water and where we’re catching rain, is growth regulator management and fertility. Some of these fields that have been sidedressed, maybe a month ago, hadn’t had any rain. We may need to revisit some of those fields with a little bit of fertilizer, and that way when we catch a rain, it’ll cause that crop to jump a little bit,” Hand said.
“The biggest thing is being out there monitoring the crop, giving it what it needs. If it doesn’t need pix, we don’t need to spray that. If it doesn’t need to be treated for stink bugs, we don’t need to have that additional cost. It’s different things like that. But the big needs right now are monitoring the growth of the crop, giving it what it needs and not overdoing things, right? We need to maintain a lot of this crop for what it is right now.”
Rain Needed
Rain remains a big concern for some Georgia growers, with abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions being reported across South Georgia, according to the Aug. 13 release of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Half of Georgia’s crop is dryland cotton or fields without access to irrigation.
“Right now, we’re looking at a lot of really, really dry pockets. Down in southwest Georgia, it’s not quite as dry; we’re not as far behind,” Hand said. “But over here in East Georgia, I’ve seen some cotton that you would expect to see in West Texas. I mean, it’s really, really dry over here, and we need a rain pretty bad to get this crop back going.”