When Is It Time to Harvest? After 259,200 minutes

 259,200 minutes, 259,200 moments so dear. 259,200 minutes – how do you measure a half-year in cotton. In seedlings, in squares, in bolls, in bales of fiber. In 290,200 minutes – how do you measure a half-year in the life of cotton.

How about harvest? How can you measure the life of cotton? How about harvest?

Cotton seedling in the spring.

Then comes the square.

Yes indeed -- with apologies to the Broadway musical Rent some 259,200 minutes, or 180 days, have passed since San Joaquin Valley growers planted their first cotton seeds. And, as field scout Carlos Silva reports, harvest time has now arrived. In the coming weeks, we’ll see more and more harvesters click-clacking away in the fields, plucking puffy white fiber from the cotton plants.

 

Cotton bolls in the summer.

Bales of cotton after fiber is ginned.

I n fact, a few growers even got a September morning start on cotton picking, firing up their harvesters exactly a week ago. By the end of the week, Carlos saw a few fields already picked and the dried plants cut down in preparation for plow down.

It looks like a fairly early harvest for some growers, Carlos says. To recap: Cotton is usually planted in April and it takes about 180 to 200 days to reach full maturity and become ready for harvest in October.

Of course, this October harvest-fest varies from area to area and from field to field. While some growers started harvesting on September 30, others are still waiting for their defoliated field to dry up enough for picking. Carlos points out one grower is just starting to defoliate now.

 

Remember, defoliation helps the mature bolls open fully and the lint can get freed from the leaves. This process helps the harvesters pick the cotton cleanly off the plants. Usually cotton is ready for harvest about one to two weeks after defoliants are applied.

Valley growers are already harvesting their cotton.

This season, an estimated 92,000 acres of acala/upland cotton are predicted to be harvested in California, down 35 percent from 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 310,000 bales are expected to be produced, a 39 percent decline from last year.

 For high-quality pima cotton, bale production is predicted to drop 20 percent to 600,000 bales. The forecast for harvested acreage is 186,000 acres, down 17 percent from 2012.

Buses again will take visitors to the cotton fields this year.

Speaking of harvest, the Sustainable Cotton Project’s annual Cotton Tour remains popular as ever. While it is booked up right now, you can still get on the waiting list for this popular free event, which provide a unique opportunity to get an inside look at cotton production – from the field to the gin. Set for Tuesday, October 29, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the tour begins at the Best Western Apricot Inn at Interstate 5 and West Panoche Road, about 23 miles southwest of Firebaugh. For more information, go to the Sustainable Cotton Project website.