I am hoping once this 49° morning passes, then it will be warm weather from here on. This rise and fall in soil temperature has made it difficult to make an early decision. Regan and I planted a cotton variety trial last week, and while we’ve had good emergence in it, the cool mornings have not helped. Looking at the temperatures next week, Im hoping those warmer temperatures show up so our emerged cotton will take off before our little friend Rhizochtonia starts showing up. If you’re still trying to make a decision on what to plant, I added the OVT results from this past year. If you can’t read the pictures, I added the link below that will take you straight to the UGA cotton website. Call me if you have any questions about it. Just a reminder, cotton growth is accelerated when the high is around 86° F and the low is around 60°F; soil temperatures need to be at least 65°F. Currently (5/4/23), we are between 66°F-67°F soil temperature in both TyTy and Brookfield. Nematodes have been pretty rough so far in corn this year, so I would take precautions when planting cotton. I think the warmer winter didn’t help us on the nematode front. We do have several good pesticide options and a few good resistant varieties that can help. Dr. Kemerait will take me off his Christmas card list if I don’t mention this; after you close the furrow, we are extremely limited in our options to fight nematodes. The good news is that the Thrip Predictor is showing that our risk for thrips across the county is moderate to low right now. May the 4th be with you.
Cotton OVT Data 2022: http://www.ugacotton.com/vault/file/2022-FINAL-Variety-Trial-Results-.pdf
