Cotton Growth Accelerating, but insects have been Low.
7-8-2026
While not planted that early, the heat has allowed this cotton crop to move over to the early side of average interms of maturity expectation. Blooms are increasing and even the late planted cotton should begin blooming earlier than average.
Rainfall in early July is usually a combination for good cotton growth. As of this writing, most of our region has had some rain, but there are still some dry spots. More chances are in the forecast. I’ve written some ideas regarding growth and insect management along with how the choice of material changes with reproductive development. The windows of management largely are dictated based on when blooming begins and what week of bloom your cotton field is in. For growth management the most important windows are Pre-bloom and early bloom and we are right in the middle of this time making pix applications the most important chore for a cotton grower currently. Once cotton has bloomed for three weeks, there should be a boll load that starts taking care of the plant. IT can still grow some more, but rarely will it add enough extra nodes to make a huge difference.
When we look at insects, the crop reaches its most susceptible time right as the growth urgency begins to fade. It is important to keep 80% of the squares on the plant prior to bloom and there are some thresholds to offer guidelines, but the key management time for insects begins around the second week of bloom and lasts through about the 5th week. This year insect numbers are lower than they have been in over a decade so far. However, I’m not making predictions on what happens when this corn dries, but usually things build up around corn getting mature which correlates highly with the 2nd to 5th week of cotton blooming.
Go to my ON-Line Newsletter available here to look at specific management strategies based on bloom timing, insect developement, and pix rates based on 3 key windows of application.
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