Since Tropical Storm Debby, some cotton plant leaves started turning yellow, a sign of nutrient deficiency. However, Guy Collins advises corrective action isn’t needed.
At a Glance
- Cotton farmers were worried at the end of June about the prospects for cotton because of the historic June drought.
Much-welcomed rain in July and August has enabled the North Carolina cotton crop to recover from an excessively hot and dry June with North Carolina State University Extension cotton specialist Guy Collins saying high yields are within reason for the Tar Heel.
Speaking at the CHROME Ag Expo Aug 21 at the Peanut Belt Research Station in Lewiston-Woodville, Collins said he — like farmers across the state — was worried at the end of June about the prospects for the North Carolina cotton crop because of the historic June drought. The good news came with the arrival of much-needed rain in July as the cotton started blooming.
“We were in a position where if it started raining, we had to keep on getting rain, time after time throughout July and August. During that period, I was saying the likelihood of having any three-bale cotton this year was pretty low because the likelihood of having another drought week or just a hot, dry period at any time in July or August was pretty high,” Collins said at the field day.
“Thankfully, we have gotten the rain that we needed throughout July and August, and our crop has made one of the best recoveries I’ve ever seen. We’ve got a very good crop and a lot to be proud of. It is trending a little earlier than normal, not significantly but noticeably.”
Following heavy rain from Tropical Storm Debby in early August, Collins said he received many reports about cotton square abortion. Collins said it is actually young boll abortion or fruit shed.
“A lot of times these fruit will bloom, become a boll, and within a few days they will shed off. That could be a product of a number of things. It could be water logging if you have standing water from the hurricane. I still argue that a hurricane in August is an asset to us. I don’t want one in September or October, but in August in most cases, it can help us finish up the crop really strong and that seems to be what’s going on now,” Collins said.
Since Debby, some of the leaves on cotton plants have begun turning yellow, a sign of nutrient deficiency. However, Collins advises that corrective action is not needed now.
“In nearly every case I’ve seen, it’s way too far in the bloom period to turn it around. It would have to be week three or earlier in the bloom period to really take action to where we would see it reflected in higher yields. In most cases that’s not applicable to growers this year,” Collins said.
In fact, Collins said yellowing leaves on cotton plants in August is not necessarily a bad thing.
“Like tobacco, we want cotton to ripen. We want those leaves to age. When we get into late August, more so into September, we want to see that off color. We don’t want to see it nice and lush green like the rest of the year. We want it to ripen, otherwise it can be very difficult to defoliate, and you could have a lot of regrowth. Any corrective action nutrient wise could likely make it greener, or green it up as we say, but it’s not likely to be reflected in higher yields,” he said.
Source: https://www.farmprogress.com/