AgFax Cotton - Louisiana
OVERVIEW
Cotton planting drags on. Rains continued to move through the Midsouth over the last week, which further sidelined field work and planting.
Hotter ahead? If forecasts hold, the weather is turning in a hotter direction and less rain seems to be in the general forecast for portions of the Midsouth into next week. That opens the way for faster drying and maybe better conditions to finish planting before June 1 (or as it's also known, May 32nd).
At least some replanting and spot planting have been necessary and for any number of reasons.
Pests are mostly in the background. Thrips activity has been light, and all the rain has probably helped beat them back. Cutworms have been a localized issue.
Slugs and/or snails are turning up in row crops in parts of the Midsouth. Mississippi State just released an informative podcast that removes some of the basic confusion about which causes crop damage and how to deal with it.
LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS
Gary Wolfe, La-Ark Agricultural Consulting, Ida, Louisiana:
"To the best of my knowledge, no one around here is completely finished planting cotton (as of 5/20). We're at 70% or maybe 80%. Normally by May 10, we'd be done, so this will be a later crop.
"I think growers will stick with cotton until June 1 and then be done. It's been wet all along, and we've received some 5-inch rains along the way. Areas south of us got a big rain last night and rain is in the forecast again tomorrow.
"I expect that some of the remaining acres will go into prevented planting with nothing planted behind it. We've already seen a lot of corn go into prevented planted.
"Some of our cotton is at the 4-leaf stage, maybe a little further along than that. But that's just a very few hundred acres. A lot of seed is still in the ground. It was planted ahead of the last heavy rains and it's in sandy ground, so crusting is a concern. I'm not sure how much of it will finally emerge.
"In places, growers didn't apply a preemerge. Those fields are growing up a little but the farmers will count on the technology they selected. Others did go with a preemerge."