AgFax Midsouth Cotton - Louisiana
By AgFax Media LLC, AgFax.com
OVERVIEW
Cotton has started squaring more noticeably in some of the earliest fields. A few preventive plant bug sprays are being considered. Plant bug numbers already are high in some wild hosts. See comments by Gus Lorenz.
Thrips treatments continue on what sounds like a scattered basis. Our contacts mostly say that this has been a light thrips year. Less thrips pressure might be due, in part, to fewer acres in an important early host – wheat.
Growers in both the Midsouth and Southeast made tremendous progress with planting last week during maybe the longest stretch of open weather this season. Some cotton remains to be planted, replanted or spot planted. How much of that cotton seed will finally be plugged into the ground largely depends now on the weather. But another factor may be how much economic gain is possible with cotton versus soybeans and maybe whether the last acres are irrigated or dryland.
Rains since Friday stalled planting in many areas. But rains weren't uniform across the Delta and irrigation has started in some corn in Mississippi. Temperatures remain on the cool side, and more rain in the forecast early next week in parts of the region. How many of those unplanted acres are in the cotton column a week from remains to be seen.
LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS
Gary Wolfe, La-Ark Agricultural Consulting, Ida, Louisiana
"Our cotton acres are up this year and soybeans are down a little. In fact, I've got more cotton this year than in a while. With all the rainy weather, cotton won't grow right. It's rained pretty much all day today (5/22) after rain yesterday and last night.
"Our older cotton is squaring just a little, but it's pretty much just sitting there. A few fields have gotten a bit thrippy. Everything had an in-furrow application, so we're kind of waiting it out.
"Growing conditions aren't about to improve. Lows are supposed to drop into the 50s for a couple of nights, with 52 predicted for tomorrow night. Over the next weekend the conditions are supposed to improve, so cotton should kick off again. Some replants have been necessary, maybe 15% to 20% of the acreage. All the cotton has been planted now and all the replanting is behind us, too."