Harvey's Rain is 'Nail in the Coffin' for Louisiana Cotton (with video)

VIDEO - LSU AgCenter State Cotton Specialist Dan Fromme, Ph.D. gives his thoughts on what the rain generated by now Tropical Storm Harvey could do to Louisiana's cotton crop. Video by Avery Davidson, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation.

By Avery Davidson & Carey Martin, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation

ALEXANDRIA--Cotton likes dry weather, especially at this time of the year. But a storm named Harvey is giving the Louisiana cotton crop a soaking when it needs it the least.

“The timing is at the worst possible time,” said LSU AgCenter Cotton Specialist Dan Fromme. “We’re anticipating another six to ten inches or more, so it could be a big issue.”

Louisiana cotton growers are beginning to defoliate the crop, further exposing the bolls to the wet weather because there are no leaves to protect the open bolls.

“The leaves kind of act like a shed or umbrella, so to speak,” said Fromme. “If it’s already defoliated, it could be bad.”

Because of wet spring weather, there is a big spread in planting dates in our state.  That would seem to be an asset because the bolls on some of the later planted cotton haven’t opened yet. But according to Fromme, the wet weather could still wreak havoc on those plants in the form of disease.

“This is just the perfect weather for target spot, which is a leaf disease,” he said. “It starts at the bottom of the plant and works its way up, prematurely defoliating the leaves before the bolls open.”

To complete the trifecta, another cotton disease thrives in wet conditions.  The disease called boll-rot causes the bolls to literally rot off of the plant.

“The bolls become speckled and black and basically just rot,” said Fromme.

Cotton was once king of the Louisiana row crops, with more than one million acres planted a decade ago.  But today, cotton acreage is just a fraction of that.  Farmers showed a renewed interest in 2017, planting close to 200,000 acres.  However, that enthusiasm about growing the white fiber has quickly disappeared.

“We’ve had some hard times,” said Fromme.  “Last year we had a lot of rain at the end of the year.  This year is just another nail in the coffin.”

A wet spring caused plenty of problems getting the cotton crop in the ground.  Once planted, much of the crop did not develop a strong root system because soils were saturated with moisture causing a shallow root development, said Fromme.

“Then we spent a lot of money on insect control,” he said.  “Prior to these rains we really weren’t expecting that good of a crop, so this just has more potential to really get depressed about cotton in Louisiana.”

With all of those factors affecting the crop, Fromme doesn’t expect optimism for growing cotton to return next year.