Defoliants are not perfect in a normal year, but this is not a normal year.  Defoliants were working really well until the middle part of September.  It is apparent that 1 month of no measurable rain will have negative impacts on the the products that we use to get our cotton crop ready to pick.

cotton 14 days after cotton defoliants were applied

Here are some things you can do to improve the effectiveness of defoliation products:

  1. Increase gallons per acre to 15 GPA to improve coverage
  2. Change spray tips from coarse droplet (auxin tips) to medium/fine droplets to improve coverage and penetration into the canopy
  3. Increase pressure to improve penetration into the canopy
  4. Use the proper defoliation mixture for the environmental conditions and crop conditions
  5. Consider 2-shot program or preconditioning crop
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