I am still amazed at how well so many of these fields are holding up despite the extremely low soil moisture that we have this year. I keep expecting to see them shed 3/4 of their fruit any day now but they keep holding on and the bolls are getting bigger. There are some fields out there that are shedding at this time, but if this rain the first of the week should materialize and give us a decent shower several folks will produce some fairly decent cotton on what few acres they have this year. Unfortunately, our friends in the Upton County area have not been blessed with near as much rain and yield potential is not quite as high out there.

Overall this crop has turned the corner and is growing. It looks a little better each week. Once you look past the point that we have failed 85% of this crop and just focus on the 15% left, this 15% looks good. From driving around the past few weeks, visiting with some colleagues, and reading some reports, we have some of the best cotton, per acre in the state. At this time it continues to average 90.1% square/boll set which is tremendous considering the heat that we have been through and with no rain for two and a half weeks. Even longer for some. Beneficials are averaging 2.1 per plant at this time, a good number, especially with the spider mites looming and a few aphids still hanging around.

Pest wise everything is quite at this time but there is plenty of “Potential”. I would encourage you to check for stinkbugs, especially if you have pasture next to your cotton. Spider mites, aphids, bollworms all fall into the “potential” category and depend more on how you manage your fields and what you may or may not be spraying. Protect those beneficials.