Tifton, GA |

This growing season has certainly been a challenging one for cotton growers here in Georgia, as producers continue to get hit with one challenge after another, time and time again. However, according to Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Specialist, despite those difficulties, the crop still is turning out to be a great one.

“Up until now, the crop looks really good. It seems like we’ve been getting what we need in most places. That June spell might hit a little harder than other some of our earlier planted dry land, really in the middle part of the state probably suffered a little bit more from that dry June than other places, but the crop, I think is looking really good,” says Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Specialist.

Of course, a big concern is the effect of Hurricane Debby, however, according to Hand, though there were some direct losses, the crop faired the storm well as the bolls on the plants hadn’t opened just yet. However, his biggest concern is the fact that some producers are not able to get equipment back into their fields, which will hinder their ability to manage and possibly harvest their crop.

“I think there’s definitely some direct losses, but the thing that concerns me a little bit more are the indirect losses from delays being able to get in the field from, from dirt roads being washed out and stuff like that. We’re definitely going to be delayed getting back in the field. Also, it could take until harvest. The good news is that it wasn’t quite as bad as most people thought, but the bad news is we’re still in August and we got us a long way to go,” says Hand.

Another concern growers are dealing with are pests, specifically boll feeding ones such as stink bugs, that can do a lot of damage this time of year when the plant is most susceptible.

“Stinkbugs are the primary boll feeding bug, but we also need to be aware that there are other bug species that can do similar injury. One that’s kind of we’re seeing a little more frequently for this late in the season is tarnished plant bug and clouded plant bug, but they’ll also feed on these developing bolls. We have a dynamic threshold that when we’re in that third, fourth and fifth week of bloom and a lot of cotton is in that time frame where it’s most susceptible or most sensitive to yield loss from these boll feeding bugs,” says Phillip Roberts, Extension Entomologist.

Roberts says one other pest to be concerned about is the silver leaf white fly, as he says they do well in drought conditions growers here in Georgia saw earlier this summer and need to be dealt with in a timely manner.

“June was a very dry month, and silver leaf white fly really does well during dry conditions. Thankfully, we started receiving rainfall in July, but white fly numbers did kind of get a foot in the door. We do want to remind growers, when you see a few white flies in the field, they should influence every decision you make,” says Roberts.

By: John Holcomb