There comes a point late in the season where defoliation timing begins to lean more heavily on the forecast and historical temperature normals associated with the current date than our maturity measurements (NACBs, %open, uppermost harvestable boll maturity as determined by the sharp-knife technique, etc.). In West Tennessee, I would argue that we are very rapidly approaching that time frame. The 5 day forecast here on the 28th day of Sept. for West TN indicates the next few days appear to be very favorable Continue reading
We have put out two strip trials in the past week and will be putting out several more in the weeks to come. For those interested in taking a look at how a few of these products are working now, I wanted to pass along coordinates and treatment descriptions. I will be updating this post as more trials go out.
Blooms are beginning to become easier to find in West TN cotton fields. It appears first bloom (the period in which 50% of plants have begun flowering) has arrived roughly 7-14 days behind schedule. Our plots here and around Jackson have definitely jumped in the past few days with warmer temperatures and moderately clear skies. Still, the 7 day forecast looks more like May. With that in mind, I’ve collected and graphed the growing degree days (no cut-off temp, base 60) in Jackson, TN for the past 14 years.