 The anticipation for the 2011 cotton crop has been palpable; and now with severe drought in the major cotton producing region of the country, the Southern High Plains, the prospects for prices to remain stable for those with a crop are good. NCSU Extension Cotton Specialist, Keith Edmiston says the stand in the Carolinas:
“Unfortunately it’s very erratic. We certainly don’t have the problem with drought that Georgia has right now, but we have some cotton that’s really hurting from dry weather. But, amazingly even with the dry weather in a lot of areas, and the cool weather, we’ve come out with good stands, amazingly good stands for the conditions we went through.”
Edmiston says there is a bright side for cotton producers trying to nurse a crop through the current dry spell:
“It is dry in a lot of areas, the cotton isn’t developing. But, the good side is that if we can keep it alive, get enough rain and moisture to keep it alive, that we’ve seen in the past drought-stressed cotton in June really does well, if we can get some rain on it in July and August.”
As far as the planted acreage this year:
“Well, you know our acreage is sort of down the past couple of years, high grain prices and low cotton prices has pushed our acreage down, so we’re back up to what I’d consider sort of normal.”
While most fields should be well beyond the four square stage where thrips pressure is commonly a problem, Edmiston says that the thrips situation has followed the weather:
“Well, we have, and it’s been erratic sort of like the weather. You know, we’ve done tests around the state, and some area we’ve got good thrips pressure and some areas we don’t. And that’s pretty typical, probably somewhat related to the weather. But, now, if the cotton’s got any moisture at all, it’s outgrowing thrips.”
As far as the dry conditions, Edmiston says this year’s situation is not the norm:
“It’s hit and miss when you go through a county, you might go through an area that where the cotton’s got some rain looks better than it does down the road, but it’s sort of the opposite of what we normally think of, as the closer you get to Raleigh, the dryer it tends to be and the closer to the coast the wetter it tends to be. Sort of the opposite of that.”
Keith Edmiston, NCSU Extension Cotton Specialist (Photo: courtesy NCFB)
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