Cooler Weather Is Important For Cotton Defoliation Options

By Jeff Cook

The 10 day forecast shows temperatures dropping into the 40’s by the weekend.  This will virtually shut down the development of most of our cotton crop.  Some growers have been waiting on the uppermost bolls to mature to squeeze every last pound out of this year’s crop.  if you’ve been waiting it’s probably time to pull the trigger.  Remember last year we had a November 2nd frost with temperatures in the 20’s.  Once something like that happens you can’t go back.

Most growers will be using 2.0 – 2.67 pints of Ethephon + 6 ounces of Thidiazuron/Diuron or 1.0 – 1.25 pints of Tribufos.  If we get much cooler then we would recommend preconditioning the crop with something like Ethephon, Aim, ET or Blizzard, Resource or Tribufos applied alone.   Then you would follow up with the first mixture.

Source:uga.edu