Writer: Joe Bryant (806) 746-6101, j-bryant1@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. James Leser, (806) 746-6101
LUBBOCK — Almost two weeks of cool, cloudy, rainy weather is proving a mixed blessing to the Texas High Plains cotton crop. About a third of the 3.5 million acres annually planted in the area was lost to drought, blowing sand and bad weather as the season began.
The widespread, soaking rains of late August and early September have provided enough moisture for the surviving 2.25-million acres of cotton to mature without moisture stress. In August and the first week of September the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center here recorded 6.2 inches of rainfall, almost equaling the 6.89 inches received in the first seven months of the year.
But lower temperatures and cloudy skies accompanying the rain are threatening delays in crop and fiber maturity. The first few days of September saw High Plains temperatures in the 70s and mid-80s in the daytime and dropping into the 50s and 60s at night.
“This crop has excellent yield capability but needs above average September temperatures and reduced insect pressure to realize its full potential,” said Dr. Jane Dever, cotton geneticist who is coordinator for the “AgriPartners” program of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. AgriPartners field technicians assist county extension agents in monitoring the crop throughout the growing season.
Some earlier planted irrigated fields are just beginning to open their bolls, Dever said. Across the High Plains, less than 2 percent of bolls were open the end of August, she reported.
“Although the prospects look promising for an average yield of one to one-and-a-quarter bales an acre, the unseasonably cool and cloudy weather, insect pressure and possible increased vegetative growth following the rains are cause for concern about final boll set and boll weight,” Dever said.
The rains and cool weather made it difficult to scout fields and treat pest infestations on a timely basis, said Dr. James Leser, Extension Service cotton entomologist.
The weather provided almost ideal conditions for aphid population buildup and beneficials failed to curb these increases, Leser said. “Aphids do very well once temperatures drop into the 80s, and the reduction in light intensity accompanying the cloudy weather has also favored aphid increases,” he explained.
The extension entomologist said in addition to aphids, “beet armyworms have flourished and boll weevils have really become a headache in some fields.” He noted that boll weevils have been found in Randall County, just below Amarillo.
Leser said a cold front predicted to reach the High Plains cotton fields around Sept. 10 is expected to drop daytime high temperatures 10 degrees below normal and nighttime lows into the 50s. “This will result in heat unit accumulations approaching only five a day, slowing plant development and fiber maturing. But that could also slow the insect development, he said.
Dr. Carl Anderson, Extension Service cotton economist and marketing specialist at College Station, said the 2.25-million-acre crop in the Lubbock area is expected to produce about 2.5 million bales. “The rest of the state, where we have slightly more than 2 million acres, will make a half-bale an acre on an average, about a million bales,” he said.
“We’re about a million bales less than we were a year ago. But we planted 1.2 million acres less, as well,” Anderson said.
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