Ag Fax: Midsouth Cotton
By Laykyn Rainbolt and Owen Taylor
OVERVIEW
Growers planted significant amounts of cotton over the last week. Growers mostly worked around sporadic showers, dropping into fields that were dry enough to run equipment.
How much cotton remains unplanted varies widely, from growers who have finished to others who have only covered a fraction of their acres. It all gets back to how much it rained, when it rained and how well soils drain. Also, how did farmers have to work down ruts from 2019’s rainy harvest?
How much longer growers will continue planting is an open question. Some will likely push into early June, but others will pull the plug before then and take the prevented planting option. Many may be reluctant to put in too much late cotton, based on their experiences in 2019. In parts of the Midsouth, fall rains caught late-planted cotton and delayed harvest into mid-November. That weather and those delays hurt quality and probably penalized yields. Plus, the pickers significantly rutted fields, creating extra headaches and costs ahead of the 2020 crop.
Thrips pressure remains mostly light. Treatments were necessary in places, but this hasn’t seemed to be a heavy thrips season, at least so far. See Sebe Brown’s comments.
Gary Wolfe, La-Ark Agricultural Consulting, Ida, Louisiana
“We have planted all our cotton. I expect very little replanting, but it’s a May crop and it’s growing slowly. We didn’t get everything planted as early as we would have liked, but what can you do?
“Some fertilizer has gone out, but I’d say the majority of the cotton has yet to e fertilized.
“We haven’t had any issues with insects so far. We will probably add some sort of insecticide for thrips when we apply a herbicide, but other than that, it’s been quiet around here.”
Sebe Brown, Louisiana Extension Field Crops Entomologist
“I’m hearing scattered reports about thrips. To what extent people are finding thrips depends on the age of the cotton, the location and other factors. This is a light thrips year in Louisiana. That’s the consensus. You’ll find hot spots here and there, but even the early cotton from April didn’t encounter much thrips pressure.
“We’re very lucky. With all the wet weather and cooler-than-normal conditions at times, cotton grew very slowly. Normally, that sets up the crop for large amounts of thrips pressure and injury. If this had been a year with normal thrips populations, we would have had a huge problem. But thrips were light and seed treatments seem to be holding, based on our treatment studies. And when the weather turned hot and the DD60s quickly accumulated, the newly-planted cotton jumped out of the ground. So, thrips shouldn’t be an issue in that part of the crop.
“Thrips pressure was lower, I suspect because more alternative hosts were available. While we did have some stretches of cold weather, we really didn’t have a winter as such. This was the second year in a row like that. If anything, this winter was warmer than we had in 2019. That brought the alternate hosts out early, and they held thrips when cotton would have been vulnerable. Also, farmers didn’t plant much wheat last fall, and thrips will build in wheat and then hit any adjoining cotton.
“People are calling me about thrips injury, but what I’m mostly seeing are symptoms of sandblasting and chilling injury. If thrips are out there, they are only adding insult to injury. I saw some of that in April cotton and now in some of our May cotton. Plants look horrible, but you can’t find thrips on it. Don’t spray. It’s a ‘feel-good’ application with zero benefits.”
Keith Collins, Extension Agent, Richland, Ouachita and Franklin Parishes, Rayville, Louisiana
“We have had problems establishing cotton stands in places with heavy rains and soil crusting. We’re still dodging rain, and planting and fieldwork have been hit or miss over the last five days. The driest period was a week or so ago, and growers planted a lot of acreage. But some areas need rain now to bring up that cotton.
“This has been a wet year overall and more challenging than the last two years when we also had too much rain and tough planting conditions. Compared to 2018 and 2019, this year’s planting season has maybe been a little wetter. The storms also have come through more often, so we never had long breaks to catch up.
“Some soybean planting started in early April in my parishes, and we’re still trying to finish. Maybe 80% to 85% has been planted. The forecast says we’ll move into a little dry spell. If so, we will finish beans then.”