Record high cotton prices, rising input costs, competition from prices of grain crops and increased demands on pest management make the decision to plant cotton more stressful than ever. Below are a few reminders to help get your 2011 cotton crop off to the best start possible.

Seed Quality:

Plant high quality seed with cool germination percentages above 60%. In soils that are typically cold and wet (early no-till planting), choose high quality, large seeded varieties. Smaller seeded varieties or average quality seed lots should be planted when soil temperatures are above 70F.

Seed Treatment versus In-furrow Products:

The best advice is to insure your substantial investment in seed with some type of fungicide and insecticide. In-furrow fungicides are strongly recommended for early planting or for fields with a history of seedling disease. If you are trying to push the crop in prior to May 1st in-furrow products offer the best protection. Seed treatment fungicides work well when disease pressures are low, or when planting around May 1st or after. Remember that after the crop has emerged it is still susceptible to disease from residue being washed over the seedlings in heavy rainfall events.

Products that provide nematode supression such as Avicta Complete Cotton and Aeris Insecticide/Nematicide should only be purchased for fields with a known history of reniform nematode populations based on actual counts from soil samples (Nematode Data).

Seeding Rates:

Calibrate planters for each variety or changes in seed size. At minimum when using a seeding rate controller get out and ground truth to be certain that what the controllers says it is planting is actully in the furrow. Vacuum air planters are extremely accurate only when calibrated correctly. Don’t cut seeding rates too close. Planting 3 seeds per foot rarely results in 3 plants per foot. Cutting seeding rates can save money, but remember to aim for a final stand of 3 plants per foot. This population is consistently the highest yielding and easiest to manage. Planting enough seed will save time and costly replanting decisions.

Hill dropping seed can help to ensure stands in soils prone to crusting. Two or three seeds per hill have more pushing power than one seed alone. Dropping 2-4 seeds per hill is historically accurate, but 2-3 is optimum with increased seed/technology costs. A spacing of 8-12 inch per hill is optimum, but attempts to reduce seed costs by increasing the distance between hills can stretch to 14-16 inches. Remember as spacing between hills increases, yields may decrease and maturity can be delayed.

Seeding Depth:

Periodically check seeding depth. Many replants could be avoided by planting at the proper depth. Cotton should be planted into moisture but should not exceed 1 inch deep, especially early in the season when frequent rains occur. Additionally, when planting small seeded varieties make sure that depth set appropriately.

Risk Management:

It is not too early to plan for in-season and harvest time constraints. The best advice is to match planting dates with variety maturity. I realize that even the most careful planning will fall victim to weather delays and breakdowns. Having several maturities can actually lead to more efficiency as well as spreading weather related risks. Remember to plant mid-full season varieties by May 12. Instead of planting 500-750 acres of one variety in 5 days, why not plant the same acreage with two varieties of differing maturity. By doing so, field operations and picking may be spread out enough to allow you to handle issues that happen along the way. This is much easier said than done, but a little forethought can go a long way to help reduce your stress level during a tough season.

Soil Temperature Effects on Cotton Germination

Soil temperature plays a key role in establishing a uniform stand when planting cotton, especially in April. Planting forecasts routinely consider the 5-day forecast for temperature, expected accumulation of DD60s, rainfall, and potentially drying winds. The missing ingredient is usually soil temperature because it can vary from field to field based on tillage, soil texture, color, surface residue, bed preparation, and moisture. The following general guidelines should be observed when planting cotton:

• Finer textured soils warm slower than coarse textured soils due to greater waterholding capacity. Water has a high heat capacity and can act as a thermal buffer to daytime heating.
• Well-drained soils typically warm faster than poorly drained soils.
• Raised beds warm faster than flat ground because of greater internal drainage, more surface area exposed to the sun and more aeration. The higher the bed, the faster it will warm.
• Dark colored soils warm faster than lighter colored soils because they retain heat from sunlight better.
• Surface residue (i.e. no-tillage practices) will tend to retain soil moisture and shade the soil surface resulting in slower warming.

Soil temperatures should be at least 68°F at a two inch depth with favorable weather conditions (accumulation of 25-50 DD60s) forecasted for the next five days. Conditions 2-5 days after planting are critical for stand establishment. Soil temperature will fluctuate daily with sunlight availability, but 65F should be considered a minimum. Soil temperatures below 65F can lead to chilling injury and greater vulnerability to seedling disease pathogens. The key is to measure the soil temperature in the field in which you are considering planting. If you decide to plant early into less than optimal conditions, be sure to use either a seed treatment (fungicide+insecticide) or an in-furrow fungicide and insecticide.

Planting date

Research from the past three growing season with 16 different cotton varieties indicates that optimal yields are achieved when cotton is planted between April 25th and May 10th. This is an extremely narrow window to get half a million acres planted. What I can tell you is that UT Extension recommends April 20th as the first acceptable planting date. In this recent reseach we can harvest excellent yields planting earlier than April 20th, but there are riskes involved. For early planted cotton you need a favorable forecast (30-50 heat units available in a 5 day forecast), well drained soils, excellent quality seed and in-furrow or seed treatment fungicides and insecticides. Never plant early in wet bottom soils, with poor quality seed (low warm and/or cool germination test) or with out fungicide and insecticide. My rule of thumb is to start ealry only on hill ground preferably with a south facing slope (to catch more warming sunshine). This early planting can help the crop develop early and potentially aviod some late season stress.

Cotton planted after May 10th is subject to less heat unit accumulation, higher temperatures and dryer conditions during flowering and can be subject to less favorable harvest condions in the fall. UT research indicates that when planting after May 10th on average yields decrease by 12 pounds for each day until May 20th. After May 20th yields decrease by 18 pounds per day until June 1st. After June 1st yields decrease by 29 pounds per day! This illustrates why timely planting and making quick re-plant decisions are important for cotton producers in a short season growing environment like Tennessee.

Cotton Planting Forecasts

In an effort to aid in making planting decisions, a cotton planting forecast will be offered every 5 days or so in 2011. The planting forecast will consider predicted temperatures, DD60 accumulation, rainfall, and potential for drying winds on the day in which the forecast is issued. The forecasts will focus on data for west TN south and north of I-40/highway 54 and southern middle TN to cover a wide geographic range of Tennessee cotton production. These are only forecasts and are subject to the inaccuracies associated with trying to predict weather. This information should be used along with good judgment for making any planting decision.