With harvest season quickly approaching across the state, please be aware of the following presentations available on the Plant Management Network, in collaboration with Cotton Inc.:
1.Basics of Cotton Defoliation
Dr. Darrin Dodds, cotton agronomist from Mississippi State, recorded a presentation on harvest prep/defoliation that I think would be good to distribute to our growers. The only part in the presentation that may not be directly applicable to our growers is the concept of using DD60s (HU) after cut-out to schedule harvest aid applications. This technique was developed in the Arkansas/mid-south area for use in the computer model “Cotman” and it doesn’t work well with our full season growing conditions. However, Darrin does a good job of emphasizing that utilizing any one technique for harvest aid application scheduling is not sufficient, rather a combination of techniques will provide the best results.
2.Cotton Yield Maps: Tools for Increasing Efficiency and Profitability
This presentation will help growers, and other practitioners in the Cotton industry utilize cotton yield maps to improve the efficiency and profitability of cotton production. Yield maps show the variability of cotton yield in a field and are used to find undetected management problems, assess the effect of new management strategies, and most importantly, optimize the distribution of crop inputs within a field. The presentation provides an introduction to yield maps, describes how yield monitors work, and presents three case studies in which cotton producers used yield maps to make significant improvements to the farming operation which resulted in increases in efficiency and profitability. The presentation is accompanied by a downloadable booklet titled “Cotton Yield Maps: Tools for Increasing Efficiency & Profitability”.
You can find more of these presentations available on the Plant Management Network http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/infocenter/topic/focusoncotton/”>http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/infocenter/topic/focusoncotton/