Cotton Season May Have Started Slow, but It Ended Fast

UCCE Fresno County Farm Advisor Dan Munk.

Editor’s Note: This week, we are pleased to present a guest blogger, Dan Munk, a farm advisor and cotton specialist for the University of California Cooperative Extension, Fresno County. Dan offers his recap of the year in cotton in the northern San Joaquin Valley.

The 2012 cotton season is turning out to be a very good season from a producer standpoint. We had good planting conditions.

While cotton was slightly behind what would have been ideal start, we still planted within a good-to-ideal window in early spring. We then saw from average to slightly above average heat units, particularly as we moved later into the season.

Cotton requires a full season to mature. We saw good early maturity. We saw first flower in mid- to late-June, which was really positive. That told us that we were setting the crop really early. When you set the crop early it allows you to sometimes to continue to prove? and expand that fruit set.

The first flower came out in mid- to late June this year.

What we saw was that everything set so well that we did have early cut out this year. That meant we had early maturing cotton. That was a positive thing because we were able to harvest early and not be too concerned about fog, rain and these kinds of problems that we sometimes have when we have a late season like we had the last couple of years.

 Right now growers were reporting above average yields. Some growers are seeing indications of near record yields.

Growers didn't worry about much rain or fog during harvest.

We are looking forward to another great season in 2013. If you are interested in joining our project, contact Marcia Gibbs, Director at marcia@sustainablecotton.org.