{"id":2628,"date":"2026-09-09T13:11:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/?p=2628"},"modified":"2026-09-09T13:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:11:59","slug":"cotton-maturity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/2026\/09\/cotton-maturity\/","title":{"rendered":"Cotton Maturity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our last effective bloom date (the last day a flower is likely to mature into a harvestable boll) is right around September 15 (next week). So unless it has been blooming for 2 weeks or more, I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;d chase it. The other question is how much more money you want to put into it. Many of us around here have been fighting whiteflies hard over the last 6-7 weeks. If we try to push this cotton to &#8220;put a top on it&#8221;, we are going to have to keep protecting against these pests and others (stinkbugs, late-season plant bugs, etc.). This will also allow them more time to continue feeding and reproducing, potentially putting us in a worse situation in 2027. I will say that our whitefly populations have started to tail off some. So unless there is a major reason to try and push this crop further than we have to, I say when it is ready, knock the leaves off. However, these situations and decisions are fluid, so give me a call with any questions that arise. It looks like we are still in a scattered shower type pattern. Little chances every day, probably coupled with some overcast conditions. The good news is that temperatures will come down a little this week. Next week we should see some mornings around 68-69. However, it looks iffy for applying defoliants. I  like a few sunny days after application to ensure good uptake and activity. But rain-free periods do become a concern. Thidiazuron (Dropp\/Freefall\/Klean-Pik\/etc.) has a rain-free period of 24 hours, but if mixed with a phosphate (tribufos\u00a0 &#8211; i.e. Folex\/DEF), that can be cut to 12 hours. With the pattern we are currently in, it&#8217;s tough to guarantee 12 hours, much less 24. Just keep in mind that ill-timed defoliants (particularly early) can be detrimental to yield and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our last effective bloom date (the last day a flower is likely to mature into a harvestable boll) is right around September 15 (next week). So unless it has been blooming for 2 weeks or more, I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;d chase it. The other question is how much more money you want to put into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2629,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}