All posts by Tyson Raper, Cotton & Small Grains Specialist

Cotton Focus VIRTUAL, video series to be posted weekly on blog

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After much deliberation, the decision was made earlier this year to move Cotton Focus to a VIRTUAL event.  Instead of making all presentations within a single day, we will be posting a few presentations each week on this blog (news.utcrops.com).  We’ve got some great content to share with you and I believe this plan will allow us to deliver it in a manner that best fits your schedule.  Most of these videos will be approximately 15 minutes in length and we plan to keep these videos up indefinitely.

Sign up for our weekly emails to be notified when new content is posted or check the Cotton page of UTCrops.com (https://utcrops.com/cotton/) for a list of all current content.

For those that are in need of pesticide or CCA points, please watch the blog mid-March for a quiz.  Questions from that quiz will cover the content covered within the videos.


Winter Row Crop Meetings for Fayette/Hardeman (1/12/2021) and Tipton (1/14/2021)

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There are two VIRTUAL county meetings coming up next week that many of you may be interested in attending.

January 12, 2021: The Fayette and Hardeman County Extension Offices will be hosting a Winter Production meeting. This meeting will be held on Zoom live, and recorded starting at 9:00 a.m. The following specialists will be speaking at this meeting:  Dr. Larry Steckel, UT Weed Specialist, Dr. Tyson Raper, UT Cotton and Small Grains Specialist, and Ryan Blair, Extension Area Specialist with Grain & Cotton Variety Testing. Dicamba and Paraquat training meetings via Zoom will be scheduled later. For more information including the ZOOM meeting link, contact Jeff Via at (901) 465-5233 jvia@utk.edu.

January 14, 2021: The Tipton County Extension Office will be hosting a Winter Production meeting. This meeting will be held on Zoom live, and recorded starting at 9:00 a.m. The following specialists will be speaking at this meeting: Dr. Larry Steckel, UT Weed Specialist, Dr. Tyson Raper, UT Cotton and Small Grains Specialist, and Ryan Blair, Extension Area Specialist with Grain & Cotton Variety Testing. Dicamba and Paraquat training meetings via Zoom will be scheduled later. For more information including the ZOOM meeting link, contact Becky Muller at (901) 619-3186 or rcherry1@utk.edu.


2020 TN Cotton Variety Trial Results now available online

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The 2020 Tennessee Cotton Variety Trial Results publication (PB 1742) is now available online.  Included within these results are nine large strip trials (CSTs) testing 15 XtendFlex commercial varieties, five large strip trials (CSTs) testing 5 Enlist commercial varieties, and six small plot trials (OVTs) testing 44 experimental and commercial varieties.  Continue reading


Preliminary 2020 Cotton CST Data released

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Preliminary data from the 2020 TN Cotton CST Data is now available.  We are releasing an average table for the XtendFlex trials and the Enlist trials today.  We only tested the XtendFlex and Enlist varieties together in a handful of locations.  I will release the average tables from those locations later, along with results from each individual location.  Also, stay tuned for the OVT small plot trial data average table which includes 44 commercial and pre-commercial varieties.  The last of the OVT samples should gin during the first of next week. Continue reading


Defoliation Strip Trial Overview, insight to performance in cool conditions

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On September 18th, we applied a defoliation strip trial in Gift, TN.  The field was 85% open with juvenile and mature leaves present.  As you likely recall, this was immediately before a cold snap.  Night temperatures for the next five days were 54, 55, 55, 59 and 57. In this blog, I describe the concoctions applied, share a brief video of the results 13 days after the initial application, and highlight a few important take-homes from the video. Continue reading


Defoliating in volatile weather conditions (is this the end of October?)

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If you trust the forecast, volatile temperatures should increase over the weekend before again falling into the upper 40s by the middle of next week.  Thanks, 2020.  Unfortunately, we do not have great options after Sunday and fields in West Tennessee are wet.  This blog covers the mixes I’m running prior to Saturday afternoon, Sunday through mid-week and thoughts on whether or not that green, soft boll will mature before a freeze. Continue reading


Defoliation thoughts heading into a cold front

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Defoliation became a little more complicated this week.  While we were lucky enough to miss the mid-week rain, the next few nights are going to be quite cold (upper 40s to low 50s) and it looks like it may be next weekend before lows reach the 60s again.  Changing conditions justify a change in rate and often a change in product.  In this blog, I highlight a few thoughts on building concoctions as we move through a pretty substantial shift in temperatures. Continue reading