Many in the area are just now in the thick of planting.  For those who have not yet put seed in the ground, please check my post from last week on seeding rate.  For those that were able to capitalize on our April window, you’ve already properly selected seeding rate and now you are looking at possibly a thrips spray or your first post application for weeds.  As normal, your crop looks ‘sickly’, having fought through a blackberry winter, cloudy conditions, and in some areas, additional rains that were not needed.  The second step of moving our cotton budget out of the red and into the black is recognizing inputs which provide a return on investment and those that do not.  Spoiler- most of the products that attempt to hitch a ride in the tank with your early season insect or weed control products often don’t pay for themselves.  In this post, I cover a few of the inputs we have evaluated to help you understand where not to invest.  Special thanks to Dr. Bradley Wilson and Dr. Brian Pieralisi for their contributions to this article.

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I started planting trials looking at seed treatments and seed quality April 16th.  While I don’t think that is necessarily a wise decision for those NOT trying to stress their cotton, I had plants emerged by the 23rd of April and most treatments are quite healthy.  Many in the area started last week.  While my team paused planting for a week after the 16th,  we began planting as much as we could last week and at the moment we have planted our early Official Variety Trial in Jackson (April 23rd), our Ridgely Official Variety Trial (April 28th), our Gift Official Variety Trial (April 29th), and our Grand Junction Official Variety Trial (May 6th).  As I write this, we are working on planting several other trials here in Jackson.  Still, Tennessee’s cotton acres are well-under halfway planted.  In this blog, I highlight a few last minute decisions that you can make to help make your crop more profitable in 2025.

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The 2025 Cotton Focus meeting will be TUESDAY, Feb 11th from 8AM-1PM at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center.  We have several special guests joining us, including Dr. Travis Faske with the University of Arkansas, Dr. Bradley Wilson with the University of Missouri, and Mr. Will Rutland from Mississippi State University.  Topics covered will include cotton nematode management, seeding rates and seed quality, the use of biologicals, optimizing N rate, along with updates from Dr. Larry Steckel on weed control,  Dr. Sebe Brown on insect control, Dr. Nutifafa Adotey on fertility, and Dr. Aaron Smith on navigating the 2025 markets.  Last but not least, we are lucky to have Dr. Savana Denton joining us to provide an update from the National Cotton Council.

Our theme this year is profitability and attendees will hear unique perspectives from each of our speakers on strategies to make sure we find ourselves in the black at the end of this production year.

Lunch this year will be sponsored by GreenPoint.  Special thanks to Mr. Brad Meyer and Mr. Justin Skinner for their willingness to cook ribeye sandwiches for the meeting.  Pesticide applicator and CCA points will be offered.  The agenda for the meeting can be found at the following link: https://news.utcrops.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025-Cotton-Focus.pdf

Look forward to seeing each of you there!

I usually release variety trial results with little to no narrative, just a few sentences indicating results are now available.  But this year, there are several points of emphasis that warrant more. In this post, I try to explain what happened in 2024 as a way to guide interpretation of the variety trial results.  It is a long post, but I believe this is a must read for those who intend to use the 2024 TN Variety Trial Results in their variety selection decisions for 2025. Continue reading →

The 2024 Tennessee Cotton Variety Trial Results (PB 1742) are now available online.  Included within these results are eight large strip trials (CSTs) and six small plot trials (OVTs) testing 48 experimental and commercial varieties.

Special thanks to all of the agents and producers who helped generate this data.  Additionally, thanks to the USDA Classing Office in Memphis for assisting with this effort.  If you have any questions on location response or variety placement, please do not hesitate to reach out directly to your county agent.

Please see below for detailed information regarding UT Extension Winter Meetings and events planned for West Tennessee this year. 

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Here we are, at the end of one of the more challenging seasons we’ve experienced in the past 10 years.  Although some have reported disappointing yields, many have been pleasantly surprised and I believe our best crop may just now be beginning to be harvested.  Still, margins remain thin. Based on our current temperatures, we have an opportunity to shave a few cents off the budget in our last few defoliation applications.  In this blog, I cover some last-minute thoughts on defoliation timing and product selection. Continue reading →