Cotton Pickers May Start Moving Through Louisiana Before Much Longer

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

LSU AgCenter/Extension Service Cotton Specialist Dr. Dan Fromme reports bolls are starting to open around the state.

"I think we're really going to be happy this year as far as yields are concerned on a statewide level," says Fromme. "However, there have been some extremely dry areas this year in the state as far as cotton production is concerned, especially in the northwest part of Louisiana where it's been really extremely dry all year.  In other areas we've had rainfall that has pretty much been on the satisfactory level.  We've got a lot of farmers in the northeastern part of the state that are really anticipating a good cotton crop this year, as well as in the central part of Louisiana."

And this years crop has progressed quickly compared to the last couple of years "due to the warm temperatures we've had and I expect some defoliation to actually take place this week and some may have happened last week," said Fromme.

"We'll start to see some pickers out in the field by about the middle of September for sure.  This years crop I think is going to be the best we've had since the 2013 and 2014 crop.  We all remember the 2016 and 2017 crop when we had excessive amounts of rainfall, a lot of boll rot and so forth.  But I think we're in for a treat this year from a statewide perspective as far as yields are concerned," Fromme concluded.