Cotton Crop Thrives With Timely Rains Across The State
KAY LEDBETTER
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
Despite some challenges, cotton production is expected to be better than average due to timely rains this season, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service reports around the state.
Ben McKnight, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension statewide cotton specialist and assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Bryan-College Station, said the Aug. 25 acreage report from the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation has total planted Texas acres at approximately 5.41 million acres.
While planted acres rarely translate into “harvested acres,” it appears that cotton field abandonment may be lower than in the past few years, McKnight said.
Losses experienced in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Plains
Cotton acres in the Lower Rio Grande Valley were much lower than in previous seasons. Growers planted around 60,000 acres compared to the typical 100,000-120,000 acres. Flooding in late March reduced those acres by an additional 20%.
Yields are good so far in the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley, with harvest about 80% complete, said Josh McGinty, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist and assistant professor, Corpus Christi. Harvested cotton trial acres produced above average yields with several yielding from 2.5 to over 3 bales per acre.
Cotton quality was outstanding according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Corpus Christi office.
“We often suffer from high micronaire (fiber thickness) values this far south, but so far the majority of bales classed have been between 3.7 and 4.9,” McGinty said.
Micronaire readings between 3.7-4.2 are considered premium, and readings under 3.4 and over 5.0 are discounted.
In the South Plains region, Ken Legé, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension cotton specialist and assistant professor, Lubbock, said while they saw some losses, he expects much better results for producers this season. Even with stand failures and some anticipated losses due to heat and drought conditions in August, he anticipates that overall abandonment will be less than 25%, significantly lower than the approximate 50% in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Since planting, frequent rainfall and mild temperatures have resulted in better-than-average crop conditions for dryland and irrigated fields. The forecast for the remainder of the season suggests there will be sufficient heat units to finish the crop, he said.
“This is good news for the industry, as gins, suppliers, warehouses and the entire cotton industry have endured tough economic conditions due to low cotton lint volume the last few years,” Legé said.
While this is a concern, the forecast for the remainder of the season suggests there will be sufficient heat units to finish the crop, he said.
Harvest underway or near in Gulf Coast, Blacklands
Harvest began in the Upper Gulf Coast with early reports of mostly above-average yields. McKnight said timely rainfall greatly helped the dryland crop this year. He said the crop also looks to be above average in the Brazos River Bottom and the Blackland Prairie.
“The overwhelming majority of the Blackland Prairie’s cotton crop is not irrigated, so producers are at the mercy of rainfall,” he said. “Many parts of the Blacklands received good rainfall, and I have been hearing preliminary estimates of 2-bale and in some cases perhaps 3-bale yield potential in fields.”
Defoliation and preparing the cotton crop for harvest in the Blackland Prairie will be in full swing in the coming weeks as grain harvest winds down. McKnight said irrigated cotton in the Brazos Bottom also appears to be progressing well and is nearing defoliation.
Rains aid production in Central, Rolling Plains, Panhandle
Cotton in Central Texas got off to a late start due to wet conditions in May, but most of the acres were planted into great moisture and had good establishment, said Reagan Noland, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist and associate professor, San Angelo.
While no significant rain fell in August, earlier rains sustained the crop, and it is nearing cutout across most of the region. Some later-planted fields still need time to mature if the current blooms are to make a harvestable boll.
“Overall, we have a much better crop in the field than we have had for the past three years, but it could desperately use a rain now,” Noland said. “I anticipate us pushing harvest aid applications a bit later than normal if conditions allow.”
Emi Kimura, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension cotton agronomist and associate professor, Vernon, said growers in the Rolling Plains planted 275,000 acres of primarily dryland cotton this year.
“The best part is that it rained in July and August,” Kimura said. “The rain, coupled with the cooler temperatures, has helped the dryland cotton look better than the last few years.”
Jourdan Bell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension cotton agronomist and associate professor, Amarillo, said the Panhandle region planted 332,865 acres with about a 50/50 split in irrigated and dryland.
Cotton was helped by timely rains in July and August, but producers reported late-season hail that could negatively impact yields. Most fields are moving into boll filling and fiber maturation under good soil moisture conditions.
“Our irrigated producers should be shutting down irrigation,” Bell said. “As long as they have good soil moisture, the plants will not be stressed and drop bolls. If producers continue irrigating, we can see fields resume vegetative growth, and we could potentially create some fiber quality issues.”
It is typical to start spraying harvest aids on cotton in October, with most of the harvest beginning in the Central, Rolling Plains and Panhandle sometime in November. ∆
KAY LEDBETTER
TEXAS AGRI LIFE