Rainfall pushed us out of the field today and it looks like we may not get back to spraying until early next week; it is generally best to not apply harvest aids in front of a guaranteed rain.  In this blog, I cover defoliation concoctions as we move into cooler temperatures next week.

Today (9/30) we received a large amount of rainfall in Jackson, and much of the area is wet.  Unfortunately, it looks like we may again receive rainfall over the weekend; rain is likely Saturday (10/1) and almost guaranteed Sunday (10/2).  I had plans to apply several strip trials today and tomorrow but I’ve called them off- the last thing I’d like to do is apply harvest aids in front of several consecutive days of rain.

Conditions for Dropp were good earlier this week, but it looks like temperatures may fall again next week.  My rules of thumb for Dropp are fairly simple- if nighttime temps are around 65 and daytime temps are over 80, I’ll tend to run Dropp between 2 and 3.2 oz without Folex.  If nighttime temps are around 60, daytime temps are in the upper 70s, I’ll run 2-3 oz Dropp with 4-6 oz Folex.  When nighttime temps fall around 55 and daytime temps are in the mid 70s, I do not run Dropp.  The return on investment for Dropp, in my opinion, is low at that temperature range. Instead, I will run Folex between 6 and 8 oz.

In each of these scenarios, I typically run Finish and Prep in a half and half mix.  That blend gives you the speed of Finish without the full sticker shock.  Additionally, I will follow all of these applications in 7-10 days with a shot of a PPO and the remaining label of boll opener.  Just a reminder- the label allows 42 oz per acre of 6 lb ethephon products.  Both Finish and Prep are 6 lb products.

Moving into next week (starting Monday, 10/4, if we can get across) my first shot will be:

6-8 oz Folex + 12 oz Finish + 12 oz Prep.

I will follow that with either:

1.5 oz ET + 0.5% COC + 18 oz Prep

OR

0.6 oz Aim + 0.25% NIS + 18 oz Prep