Agricultural News
OSU's Seth Byrd Advises Cotton Farmers to Take Advantage of Any Moisture They Can Get
Tue, 10 May 2022 11:22:53 CDT
As we enter cotton planting season, Farm Director KC Sheperd talks with Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Cotton Agronomist, Dr. Seth Byrd about getting some moisture throughout the state to establish a good cotton crop.
"Nobody is thrilled with their moisture situation, and I think when you look at the rainfall patterns, we had over the last 7 days when we had some systems move across the state, we see some pretty big totals out there," Byrd said. "I'd say even the moderate totals, in general, have avoided the majority of our cotton acreage."
In the western half of the state and maybe the western third where most cotton acres are going to be, Byrd said, by large, we still need moisture to plant in a lot of these areas.
"We do have some folks that are starting to plant this early May, the week of the 9th," Byrd said. "In general, those are going to be the ones that caught a little bit of the rain recently and probably have irrigation to help supplement what they are going to need early on, or they are in areas further north where we are going to be season length limited."
Byrd said you have to get moisture early. If you get to the central part of northern Oklahoma, Byrd added, they may have caught a little bit more rain, but as you move out to the Oklahoma panhandle, you will see more irrigation.
In the northern part of the state, Byrd said it will be critical to take advantage of the warm temperature and rainfall when it comes.
"We are rainfall limited and we are also temperature limited in those areas, so it is rare that we get the combination of two being favorable at the same time," Byrd said.
By large, Byrd said we are just now getting started with the planting.
"We are going to be in one of those situations where, hopefully, we have got some of our earlier planted acres established," Byrd said. "We have got a stand there while we are still planted into moisture if we get one of those rains."
We hope, Byrd said, that those rains come with just rain and not hail or anything severe with the wind because you can lose a stand pretty easily with wind or even hail damage. If it doesn't lose a stand, Byrd said it certainly will impact the way that crop grows if it damages a terminal or takes off a lot of the leaf area that we have early on.
"We are likely going to be dry planting some acres this year, just based on the situation we are in," Byrd said. "It is still kind of early May, but you've got a lot of acres to plant- you've got to get some in."
Our driest part of the state is where Byrd said we have a lot of dryland acreage.
"We are certainly going to be hoping for rain to come and I guess, naturally, for a lack of a better term, water the cotton up," Byrd said. "But at the same time, we don't want any severe weather to affect any of the stands we established early on."
Byrd said you don't ever want to water cotton up with irrigation.
"You'd love to be able to plant in the moisture," Byrd said. "This drought really isn't something that's been hitting us for the last couple of weeks or couple of months. It really stretches way back into the fall."
Byrd said because we don't have that deep profile moisture, or the groundwater available, irrigation is going to be impacted by the lack of rainfall that we have had over the last 8 months.
"That also impacts the district there in Altus that waters out of the lake," Byrd said. "We saw that impact last year, and it looks like we are going to go into this year with some similar limitations in terms of irrigation water availability there."
Byrd said we will definitely need a good rain and maybe more so to supplement irrigation instead of replenishing some of our groundwater resources at this point.
"If we had decent moisture, you would probably see some folks pull the trigger a little earlier in May and we would be able to move a little bit further along," Byrd said. "In general, we are just really getting started on the irrigated crop in the southwest part of the state."
When looking at the panhandle and the northern counties in Oklahoma that plant cotton, Byrd said there is not a ton of acres through there, but they are going to be on the shorter end of the season length. For those areas, he added, you are looking for warm temperatures plus moisture early because you have really got to get that stand established.
"Cotton can take some stress once it gets some emergence, but you really want to limit the amount of time that the seedling is underground," Byrd said. "It is very prone to weather stress through there."
If you can get the crop established in a short window of time, and then hit cooler weather or a dry spell, Byrd said generally you are going to still be okay as long as you have adequate stand establishment.
To Listen to KC's Full Conversation with Seth Byrd on this cotton planting season, click the LISTEN BAR below.
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