As we are nearing the finish line for the season, many are trying to decide, “When are we going to finish spraying cotton?” Great question, and the forecast has changed quite a bit since my last email and conversations with many of you. It looks like highs will remain in the 80s for the next 10 days or so, making this decision complicated. Normally, I would say let’s go ahead and pull the plug on November 1… but the temperatures will allow the crop to progress a little further if it isn’t ready yet, and we will still get good activity out of our defoliants with highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s. I would evaluate crop maturity on a case by case basis over the next 10 days, but if someone were to decide to pull the trigger a little early this week I would not argue with them.
In terms of the impacts of the frost, it seems like the biggest impacts were in the middle GA area and North. I have heard about some bolls with the rotten smell and frost damage on the outside of bolls. Those bolls are done for. Too, keep in mind that the subtending leaf (the leaf connected to the fruiting site on a fruiting branch, pictured below) provides 60% of the necessary photosynthates to fill a boll out to maturity. So, if that subtending leaf was damaged by the frost, it is likely that the associated boll won’t mature. Keep that in mind as you evaluate frost damaged fields and make a determination on when to pull the trigger.
Rates:
2 oz Dropp (if necessary) + 12 oz Folex (or preferred PPO inhibitor of choice) + 42 oz Prep
8 oz Ginstar (Cutout, Adios, etc.) + 42 oz Prep