Tennessee’s 2016 cotton crop is rapidly maturing and many of our acres will receive the first shot of defoliant in the next week.  There are many factors to consider in determining timing, products and rates.   In an effort to outline these decisions and provide harvest aid recommendations for the Mid-South, the 2016 Mid-South Cotton Defoliation Guide has just been updated and is now available online.   To access the guide, click the image above or the included link.  Please keep in mind that this was compiled as a regional guide and should be used in conjunction with your previous experiences.

We sprayed an early defoliation trial on the station last Wednesday and I’m currently penciling out locations for county strip trials to be applied within the coming weeks.  Check back in the next week for coordinates and treatment descriptions. Regardless of timing method, slice the uppermost harvestable boll as a timing check.  Some have noted in recent years that this is one of the best ways to time defoliation in our current germplasm, and I tend to agree.