Cotton Specialists Corner
Extension Cotton Specialists and others from across the U.S. weigh in on a variety of topics that impact cotton producers, consultants, and the industry as a whole.
Cotton Specialists Corner
Episode 56 - Southeast Crop Update
Drs. Guy Collins (NCSU), Keith Edmisten (NCSU), Sudeep Sidhu (UF), and Josh Lee (AU) join host Camp Hand (UGA) to discuss planting conditions, acreage reduction, and crop management during a challenging 2024 season. Weather patterns, market pressures, and management strategies dominate the conversation as experts share insights on navigating the lowest cotton acreage since the early 1990s.
• North Carolina experienced good early planting conditions followed by wet, cool weather that prevented many acres from being planted
• Georgia and Florida faced similar patterns with favorable April planting followed by persistent May rainfall that delayed field operations
• Alabama growers battled relentless rain, especially in northern regions, pushing planting dates into June
• Cotton acreage is down dramatically – Georgia likely 750,000-850,000 acres (vs USDA's 1 million estimate)
• North Carolina acreage approximately 40% lower than 2023, around 250,000 acres
• Many unplanted acres went to prevented planting rather than alternative crops
• Current crop condition is generally good though behind normal development schedule
• Specialists recommend efficient management through timely PGR applications, reduced nitrogen rates, and strict adherence to pest thresholds
• August rainfall will be the most critical factor for determining final yields
• Growers advised to avoid untested specialty products and focus on proven management practices in this low-price environment
Well, if it was so easy, they'd simply call you corn. You promised me the moon, and then I wish I wasn't born.
Speaker 3:I got cotton picking Cotton. Picking cotton growing blue. Lord, I can't live without you, living with you.
Speaker 2:What am I gonna do? One rain away from glory, but it's still the only life I'd ever choose. Well, I finally made some money. It's the cotton picking, cotton growing blues.
Speaker 5:All right, so welcome to this episode of the Cotton Specialist Corner podcast. My name is Camp Hand, a cotton specialist at the University of Georgia, based out of Tifton, and we're on the third iteration of these crop updates across the cotton belt and we're in the southeast this time. So I get to talk a little bit more about what's going on in Georgia. But of course we got some other folks to discuss what's going on in Georgia. But of course we got some other folks to discuss what's going on as well Dr Guy Collins, dr Sadiq Sidhu and Dr Josh Lee, and those are with North Carolina State, the University of Florida, and Josh is going to be with Auburn University on August 16th. Is that right, josh?
Speaker 6:We're hoping yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's what we're hoping. So yeah, put him on the prayer list. Okay, so we're excited to have this group here, and Dr Keith Edmiston just jumped on as well, from North Carolina. So I think everybody knows the drill. What we're going to do is kind of start off with what planting conditions were like and then move on through some other things. So we'll start in North Carolina with Guy and Keith and y'all split it up however you want to, but kind of walk us through what planting was like for you guys.
Speaker 7:Well, we started out pretty good in late April and early May with fairly warm conditions. We were kind of getting dry there to start with, but we had really warm temperatures, I'd say for that first week of May. To the point I was concerned we would have too much cotton planted all at one time and then that drastically took a turn south. Yeah, yeah, we started getting a lot of rain, some cooler temperatures, and it just from there. For the rest of planting season was a real headache, with wet weather, cool weather, pretty much all the way to the end of planting season.
Speaker 7:So our first crop insurance cutoff is May 25th. Our final cutoff is the end of May and with prices the way they are, there was really no incentive to keep planting beyond crop insurance deadlines. So we lost a lot of our intended acres, which was going to be down anyway. But we lost a lot of our intended acres really just to poor planting conditions at the end of may, which is kind of odd. We typically think the beginning of may is when we're going to have cool, wet weather and then it gets better. But it was kind of the opposite of that this year yeah and uh.
Speaker 5:What are the so guy real quick, I mean in the in texas and and in the west. You know, there there are a couple alternatives, not really In the Mid-South, of course. They'll jump on corn and beans. But what are those guys going to move to that weren't able to plant cotton on those intended acres in North Carolina?
Speaker 7:Primarily beans, where they have that option. But this year it was kind of odd, but there was a lot of prevented planting taken out and there's nothing there Really, and we rarely ever see that. Yeah well, there are beans on some of those acres, but on a lot of them there's just nothing planted.
Speaker 8:Wow probably the largest amount of prevented planning that that I've ever seen during my career, and certainly preventive planning to the point where nothing's being planned.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I've gotten a lot of questions down here about preventive plan as well, because I mean, we've seen similar, you know, situation where we, you know, in April and the first part of May it was just great, and then about Mother's Day is, whenever it started getting really, really wet, and I mean it. You know it rained a lot in one day and then it'd keep us out for you know three or four days and then it rained two or three inches more. You know it'd be just enough to uh keep us out and kind of like y'all are saying I mean everybody was singing the blues already and then, you know, you start looking at planting which we, our insurance days are a little different, they're in the first part of june and so we, we kind of were able to push it a little bit further, but even still I think it was it was about june 15th was a phone call that I had with somebody and he was like man, we're still going, and when do we tell these guys to stop? Just because we, I mean we're not going to plant beans, we're going to plant peanuts. You know, on, that's our um substitute, I guess, and I mean there's a, there's a lot of dry land, corn around and stuff like that, guys trying to do some stuff, that a little bit more of a desperation type move.
Speaker 5:But we certainly had some of that go on and you know, I mean overall, once it stopped raining, I mean we were able to get the crop in pretty quick. It we finished up on the station here on june 11th, I believe is when it was, but we were still catching, you know, those afternoon showers and and stuff like that. So it, uh, I don't know it was tough, but we were still catching, you know, those afternoon showers and and stuff like that. So it, I don't know it was tough around here too. Pretty, pretty much same story you guys are talking about. But what about down in Florida, dr Sidhu?
Speaker 9:Well, we had different scenarios in different parts of the panhandle. So in the very West, you know, in Escambia County. So in the very West, you know, in Escambia County, santa Rosa County, where we have heavy clays, it was a similar situation. Planting started off really well and then we had the wet season and you know, then it was too wet for planting in the clay so some of the growers had to replant, some of the growers had to wait a lot, you know, and you know. Then the planting got delayed all the way till June For Jackson County and around, where we have sandy soils. To all the growers that I have talked, nobody had issues planting. So everybody was planting on time because of the sandier soils. Here at the station where I am in Quincy, we have a sub horizon clay zone but we were planting. We started planting in late April and we were, we were on time, so we were not hit that hard. But then I was talking to our growers in in Jefferson County, which is east of Tallahassee. That's one grower, basically, who is left in Jefferson County who planted cotton this year, who is left in Jefferson County, who planted cotton this year. So he was on time in the beginning. And then there was a dry spell and then he could not plant. He was waiting for some rainfall to occur so that he can plant. So he was all the way delayed to June and was done planting his cotton. And then we have about 1,800 acres in Suwannee Valley, about 950 acres in Lafayette County, about 900 acres in Levy and Gilchrist County. Planting was not an issue, you know, even though we had rainfall over there, but it's deep sands over there, so planting was not a problem.
Speaker 9:Overall, what I have seen is a reduction in cotton acres this year. Some of my big, prominent cotton growers in Jackson County have significantly reduced their acreage. One of the growers I talked with would typically grow 1,500 acres of cotton on a yearly basis, came down to less than 200 this year, and another grower I talked to I'm just giving examples Another grower I talked to would plant cotton on about 2000 acres, is on 1500 acres this year. So there's a huge reduction in acreage. Some of the growers I talked with did not plant those reduced acreages with any other crop. They just left the acres not planted, as Keith and Dr Collins were talking about.
Speaker 5:So yeah, all right. So let's move over to Alabama. A little bit different geography over there, but, from what I know, pretty much the same story. So, dr Lee, let's talk about what happened over there this year.
Speaker 6:Sure. So thanks, cam. So, going over planting conditions, I think the main story here is it was wet and rainy, especially up in the north part of Alabama. Guys couldn't get in and plant. I know you know plant dates about April, you know trying to get that May sweet spot, but with relentless rain these guys couldn't get in and it pushed their planting dates to way, you know, pushing June into June. So that was the main story.
Speaker 6:I know I got the opportunity to go to a field day here recently and I mean rain was still the, you know, the topic of discussion, unfortunately. But so we're looking at a good bit of late planted cotton overall. Now, I'm not, you know, it's not the entire state. Some guys were fortunate enough, you know, in the mid part, in the southern part of Alabama, to get in and actually, you know, know, get a good plan, get a good stand and they're rocking and rolling right now, currently in the season. So but overall I think we're going to deal with the delayed planning and we're going to have to dodge these rains. I mean, I mean speaking from experience from last week, we did run into a torrential rain and it's, you know, not one of these little showers that pops up. It's one of those one to five inch raindrops and within like a few hours, so they're in high intensity rainfall events yeah no kidding, no kidding.
Speaker 5:And over there where you were last week in the black belt, a half inch makes a makes a world of difference. You know, it's certainly a unique part of the state. So let's kind of go back in in reverse order and talk about acreage. I know that everybody's kind of alluded to reduced acres and the USDA acreage report did come out. I believe it was a week ago. I've already alluded to my thoughts on it, but I mean I think they're off. But that's just Camp Ann's opinion. But we'll start with Josh and kind of work back this direction. So, josh, tell us about kind of what was forecasted and what actually wound up happening.
Speaker 6:Sure. So just to pull data from 24 and 2025. So 24, we were projected area plan at 400,000 acres this year. Looking at this crop progress report, we have dropped to 340,000 acres 15% drop. Crop progress report we have dropped to 340,000 acres, 15% drop. I think that's a fair-ish assessment. Here Again, coming as an incoming specialist, I haven't been able to ride the state and talk to as many growers, but as I get into it more I'll get a better feel for what this actual crop is planted.
Speaker 5:Yeah, for sure, Dr Seedhoo. What were y'all forecasted to plant and what do you think actually got planted?
Speaker 9:The USDA numbers for Florida are about 75,000 acres this year, about 15% drop. But just by talking to my growers, every grower that I have talked to, they've produced their acreage to 25% or more. They've produced their acreage to 25 percent or more. So you know, in different, in different counties, and I think that in my opinion the overall acreage could be even lower than the 15 percent that's predicted by USDA.
Speaker 5:Yeah yeah, similar story around here. I believe it was. Usda projected us at a million acres, which is about a 10% drop for us, and whenever the acreage report came out last week it said a million. And there ain't no way, there just ain't no way we got a million acres in Georgia. I just don't think so. I mean, I spend a lot of time driving around and there is a lot of corn and a lot of peanuts and more soybeans than I normally see and even things like watermelons. So you know, I believe the Cotton Council pegged us at 860,000 back in the wintertime and we're probably closer to that number, if not a little bit lower, and I think a lot of that.
Speaker 5:You know there's a lot of folks that did, you know, kind of get into the planting season and come to terms with, hey, we don't have much of an option, you know, so we kind of have to plant cotton, but then the weather kind of pushed them out. You know, those Mother's Day rains and into June kind of pushed them out, and then that those mother's day rains and into june kind of pushed them out, and then even looking into things like prevented plant and and stuff like that, but, um, overall. I think a lot of it's got to do with, of course, the price and then uh input prices and things like that. But some of the weather uh did, did uh reduce our acres as well. I mean, if I had to guess, we're probably somewhere between 750,000 and 850,000 acres, and that's the lowest for Georgia since 1993, I believe. So certainly an interesting year around here as well. But what about up in North Carolina guys? What do y'all think?
Speaker 7:I think USDA had us at 290. I think that's relatively close. Now, going into planting season, I think we were projected to be 15%, maybe 20% down due to prices and other things, and I think that was a fair assessment at that time. But due to the planting conditions we had and the lack of incentive to really keep planting beyond crop insurance deadlines, I think we're closer to 40% down honestly. So I think our final number will come out being closer to 40% down from last year. So we were 410,000 acres last year, so that'll put us closer to 250,000 acres this year, which kind of, like you said, is it's the lowest we've been since golly, sometime in the 90s, early 2000s, somewhere in there. It's been a long time since we've had acres this low, very long time.
Speaker 8:They got us down 29% at 290. And I agree with Guy, there's no way I don't think we've got 290. We're probably maybe even below 250.
Speaker 7:And we've lost some acres since then just due to seedling disease and things like that, and this Asiatic garden beetle that rears its ugly head on some acres every now and then. That usually would necessitate a replant, but it just happened later than normal this year, but it's too late to replant cotton, so a lot of that's going to get replanted to beans. So you know, those are fractional acres, but we're losing some of those acres, um, you know, since planting season.
Speaker 5:So, yeah, that's certainly not helping our acres, yeah, yeah yeah, you know, keith and and guy, y'all y'all brought it up. I mean it's the lowest in a lot of places since the early 90s, I mean since transgenic cotton, since BT cotton and boll weevil eradication really around here is kind of that's the lowest it's been, or this year is the lowest it's been since those two things happened. So certainly a big deal. But, guy, you kind of jumped in and so let's talk a little bit about the crop as it sits today, what it looks like and what's going on and kind of what folks need to be thinking about.
Speaker 7:So as of right now, other than being a little bit behind schedule, it looks pretty good. The crop we have is in pretty decent shape. I think We've had fairly timely rains. We've gotten better heat units in june than what we had in may, so the crop is growing. A lot of it's been side dressed. Some pgrs are going out. Few plant bug applications are going out.
Speaker 7:Here and there thrips were a challenge early on. That was somewhat problematic, which is to be expected when you have slow early season growth and cool weather. That's fairly normal, but they were problematic early on. Things have gotten quite a bit better since then. So the crop we have is in fairly good shape, I would say just behind schedule, and that worries growers more than it does me. I'm not at all worried in that regard, simply because we had a really hot, dry week a couple weeks ago and I was kind of glad the crop was small, you know, instead of being real close to blooming during a week like that. So right now the forecast has quite a bit of rain in it. We had this tropical system move through last night and it's supposed to be clear today, but some areas got a lot of rain. Other places got a little bit of rain, but the forecast has pretty decent chances of rain for a while, which we need in July. Yeah, so you know, right now things look pretty good.
Speaker 8:Yeah, keith, it was pretty amazing recovery once we started getting some heat in June in the crop. And you know, when you look at the data for Square and everything, we're not too far behind where I think people should be worried.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'd echo that. I mean we of course on the station we range from April 15th to June 11th planting date, but I mean it seems like everything is just kicking it right now, like it's. You know, the stuff that was planted in April up to about May 15th for a while was ahead of schedule in terms of heat unit accumulation and things like that. I did lay by some cotton this morning that was planted May 15th and then June 2nd and so I mean it's starting to square pretty good. Some of that May 15th planted stuff is starting to bloom, to square pretty good. Some of that may 15th planted stuff is is uh starting to bloom and even out, uh, in that june planted cotton, I mean we're starting to square this week so got pinhead squares out there and so you know we're rocking and rolling. There is some uh later cotton out there that's probably, you know, three or four leaf this week. Um, that we got to keep an eye on. But but overall, I mean, for what we dealt with planting, I feel like the crop's in pretty good shape and we got a good chance to make it.
Speaker 5:And, like y'all are talking about, I mean we've been getting fairly timely rains. This has been, let's see, since the 4th, so today's the 7th, this has been one of the driest stretches we've had. We've been catching afternoon rains around the state pretty regular, and I mean, of course that's hit or miss. But you know, it seems like we're getting what we need when we need it for the most part, and so it's uh, it's been really good so far. On on the acres that we do have planted, we're, we're like y'all we have a few hot spots of plant bugs, nothing widespread, very sporadic, uh, across the state, and then some stink bug applications are going out. Now we're entering the third week of bloom on some of that earlier planted stuff. So certainly some stuff to be looking at and thinking about in the future. But what about down in the Florida panhandle? What's it look like right now?
Speaker 9:Well, cotton crop, wherever it is planted, looks great. You know, across the panhandle, even at our station in Jefferson County, everything crop looks good. They are at different growth stages. Based on somebody you know who got to plant early the crop is blooming, whereas delayed planting the crop is blooming whereas delayed planting the crop is still small. What issues?
Speaker 9:The one issue that I want to share with you all is not from the panhandle, but it is from suwanee valley, the two counties that are south to us levy and gilkis county. What we have started noticing over there is cotton jacid, which is a two-spot cotton leaf hopper. So last year it was noticed. You know that it moved from south to and it reached us, and so this year again that has been, you know, noticed in the cotton acres, even though we have about about 900 acres in levy and gchrist County, but in that area. But that's one of the issues that the growers have started to see.
Speaker 9:Another one is the growers in Levy, gilchrist County area as well as in Jefferson County, have started to notice are snails. So I don't know if you guys have seen them or not, but I have pictures from the growers where the cotton plant is just infested by snails Like it's hard to even count how many snails are there on a plant and some of the pictures also. You could see the leaves that are damaged, as another insect would you know, as a caterpillar would eat the leaves. So I'm not an entomologist, but I've been talking to other entomologists about it. So snails are one of the issues.
Speaker 9:The pictures that I have received, the leaves where the snails were not present were also drooping, as if the moisture has been sucked out of the plant. So I mean, if you guys of course you guys are more experienced than I am have seen certain you know problems in your areas I'm all ears to to listen to and and assist my growers with, but these are the things that we have started noticing. White flies are also what we have started to notice in swanee valley, but I haven't heard anything or seen anything drastic in the panhandle. The crop looks good in the panhandle, but these are the issues that we have started seeing.
Speaker 5:You know that I just mentioned yeah, in the, the jacet is a new one, and so, uh what, what y'all's uh recommendation on that? Are we still trying to figure out what exactly to do or how big of a problem it is?
Speaker 9:Yes, we're still trying to figure out the intensity of JASID and you know I don't have the answer right now.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yeah, ok, good deal. I was just curious. So, over in Alabama, josh, what's it? What are you hearing right now? What's it look like and all that good stuff.
Speaker 6:Sure. So overall, what I'm hearing is we're all across the board. You know, we've got, we've got late planting, we've got on time planting. So management across the state is a little varied. One of the comments that Dr Graham, our entomologist, mentioned you know, I'm getting calls about thrips and plant bugs at the same time, which is that's pretty interesting to get calls on all that you know from different styles of management.
Speaker 6:So, the April planted cotton, you, you know we're going into blooming. It's rocking and rolling and then we've got a good bit of squaring cotton. Here again, it's dependent on when growers can get in and get out of the field. You know, get in and put those, yeah, and get everything situated, get planted. Number one come in with our, you know, herbicide applications. I know some guys are having issues with weed control. Here's a little bit later in the season, uh, due to uh, you know, high, you know sprayers and that kind of stuff not being able to get into the field. So I think one of our key things looking, you know, down the road, especially now, is timely management. Um, you know, and I know that's weather dependent and we can't control every factor, but timely management of this crop is going to be key yeah, ain't no doubt.
Speaker 5:And so, kind of going in that same vein, what, what's kind of the, the message you're giving your guys from here on and like the outlook of this crop and and kind of optimizing or I mean, everybody knows the situation right. I mean it's a it. We're kind of in a bad spot. You know, certainly want to make the most of this crop, but also manage our input sufficiently. So, uh, what's what's kind of the advice, josh, that you're giving these guys or that you will be giving them? How about that?
Speaker 6:sure. Thanks, camp. So the main thing is I alluded to just a second ago with timely management. You know, getting in there, especially with our pgr management, um, I think that's going to be really critical for this crop, especially being late planted. We need to get in there and we need to put the correct rates at the correct time and you know we're mainly wanting to. You know we want to have good fruit retention, good square set, good bowl set, and you know we want to be probably a little bit more aggressive style with our PGRs to promote that earliness so we can get in there and get that crop to mature and get it on out of the field With that.
Speaker 6:You know we want to make sure we really need to dial up some weather. I know we can't call in the weather, but we need some really good sunshine. I think good sunshine will help with this retention, help that crop, get it going. I know it's the summertime, it's June, we're now in July, have more, you know, heat unit accumulation per day, so hopefully that'll speed it up. You know we don't want these overcast conditions and again, you know, when guys are coming into side dress, we may want to pull back a little bit on that nitrogen. Reduce it to about you know 20,. Reduce 20 percent, you know, nitrogen rate. We don't need as much. So just to just those management thoughts to sort of keep in the back of your mind as you go on, but yeah, I mean, this crop's in the ground and we're going to make a crop and we're going to harvest this crop.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's the thing is. Once you put it in, you're married to it, you know. So I mean, you got to do what you can to make it. The only way to make this thing work is to make more of it, you know, and so we got to do what we can to make this crop. So, sadiq, what about you? What's the outlook of the crop and what's some advice you're giving to your guys right now?
Speaker 9:Well, talking to my growers, the optimism about the crop is not, you know, as great. You know just the general sentiment. You know as great, you know just the general sentiment. So the advice given to the growers is to be, as you know, efficient in their management, particularly nutrient management for us in our deep sandy soils, nitrogen management and potassium management, which most of our growers are, you know, very keen on taking a step down on nitrogen and potassium this year, which eventually was also, you know, talk of our conversation that if we don't push nitrogen too much will help us also manage our pigs better. So, in general, all my conversations with the growers have been around, you know, reducing cost. You know any effort that we can have to reduce cost for this crop so that, so that we can try to break even, if not make a huge profit out of it.
Speaker 5:So yeah, yeah, similar stuff around here. You know, on a late crop, pgrs are going to be critical, you know, and managing those correctly and efficiently and, you know, tightening up our maturity a little bit. On that late plant of cotton, one thing I actually got a call last week and, you know, got a little ill. But there was an agent called me about a dealer that was selling all these foliar type products to push some of this cotton out of moisture stress and it was like number one, it was clogging up his sprayer and so that's that's time and and money right there mixing up all these products. But then I mean one of them was like a starter fertilizer that you put in a two by two. It was heavy on phosphorus and and uh, I mean I, I asked the agent, I was like what, what are we doing? You know, I mean it's this crop is going to sell right now for 68 cents and we're spending money on this kind of stuff. I mean this is just absolutely ridiculous. The only thing that's going to push a crop out of out of waterlogged conditions is is heat and sunshine and I mean it's, it's like that's, that's all we got to have.
Speaker 5:So I mean just being smart with our inputs and uh, not doing things that we, you know we don't think are gonna work, or just, you know, listening to, listening to guys, just because you're standing there buying some stuff or whatever. I mean, you know we just got to be smart and you know, using thresholds on insects we've talked a lot about insects. It, uh, it, you know cotton, unfortunately, uh doesn't taste better at at a dollar than it does at 68 cents. Insects are gonna eat when they're hungry, right, and so I mean it's uh, you know, making sure that we manage some of those things and not using some of these unproven type products. And you know some of that stuff is not going to be the way to make this crop work out or pencil out.
Speaker 5:And Josh already mentioned some of the nitrogen considerations. I think on some of this later plant of cotton, you know we still recommend nitrogen based on yield goal in the state of georgia and, uh, you know these guys, they know their fields, know the yield history and know the yield potential, and so let's uh, let's be smart, let's make good decisions out there and put ourselves in a position to uh be successful. Okay, so, uh, what about up in north carolina? What's the uh, what's the outlook up there and what are there and what are y'all kind of communicating to your guys?
Speaker 7:More of the same. We're trying to grow this crop as efficiently as we can. This year. I mean, everybody's on a very, very tight budget, yep. And you know, looking back at last year, with folks making 11-, 1,200-pound yields across the board, which is very respectable yields for dryland growers, which is a respectable yields for dry land growers, which is a lot of what our acreage is, and barely breaking even, I mean that's, that's very tough and in any other year you would easily be making money and being profitable, but when you're barely breaking even, that that's a little scary.
Speaker 7:So you, we have to be economical in growing this crop. So you know, the main thing we can do, like you said, is insects are going to do what they do. We can't really control that, but we can be very timely with our inputs. That's the one thing we can control in most situations. Our inputs, that's the one thing we can control in most situations. We can avoid some of these products that you know don't really add value. They may make the crop look better, but they don't really add yield or add value to the crop at the end of the year. So we have to be more conscientious about those types of things.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and just you being more efficient where we can be. Yeah, a lot of it is going to depend on weather and things like that. As far as what we recommend, you know from here on out, I'm sure you would say the same, but a lot of our crop is made in August, yeah, you know, but July is what sets it up for August. Yeah, so you have to get to that point. So you know, a lot of that is weather driven, so we will see what happens. Yeah, yeah, and, as you know, september either yeah or I was gonna.
Speaker 5:I was gonna jump in there and say august and september can make it or break it. So it's uh in one way or another. So, keith, what about?
Speaker 8:you, I would agree with that. Uh, if I could only have one parameter to predict yield, it would be rain in august, but you know there's a lot of people you may be tempted to try. All these these things that are not tested yeah, foliar fertilizers and things like that and we just got to stay with the basics. Yeah, I mentioned being timely with the insects. That means, you know you got to be scouting and you got to be making those. You got to be making smart decisions and not wasting money, but you got to control insects. That's the basics from here on out. Yeah, that, and timely growth regulators where we need them.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, and I mean, you know, the foliar fertilizer thing just got me last week and I mean I mentioned one of the things, but that same agent called about this this uh guy using manganese foliar on cotton and I was just like man, what are we doing? Like it's just not the year for stuff like that. You know, put out and put out your boron, your nitrogen and and your potash and stuff like that, and then let's just go, let's just make this crop. You know, I mean it's not the year to be playing around with with some stuff that that we don't need. I mean, it's just not the year for it.
Speaker 5:So kept this one pretty concise. It seems like everybody's kind of in the same boat. Is there, uh, anything that I'm missing, anything else that you guys want to want to throw out there? Before we kind of wrap this one up? All right, I want to thank Guy and Keith from North Carolina, dr Sadiq Sidhu at Florida, who's first time on the podcast, and then Dr Josh Lee, first time on the podcast as well. We're excited to have those guys as part of the group, but certainly want to thank them for jumping on taking some time updating us on the crop. Of course want to thank Cotton Incorporated for the sponsorship of this effort and we'll see y'all next time.
Speaker 1:Well, you take all my money, you take all my pride, you take up all my time and then you take me for a ride.
Speaker 3:I got cotton picking cotton, picking cotton growing blue.
Speaker 2:Lord, I can't live without you but living with you make a man want to lose.
Speaker 1:Well, at first you grow so slowly, but I can't make you stop Worry. Worry about you Till.
Speaker 2:I'm tied up in a knot. I got cotton picking.
Speaker 3:Cotton picking, cotton growing blue. Lord, I can't live without you.
Speaker 2:It's all a part of paying all my dues. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, I sell you off to China For a few cents a pound. You come back with polyester Mixed up all around that guy Cotton picking Cotton, picking Cotton, picking Cotton, growing blue. Lord, I can't live without you.
Speaker 2:It's still the only life I'd ever choose.
Speaker 1:Well, if it was so easy, they'd simply call you corn. You promised me the moon.
Speaker 2:And then I wish I wasn't born.
Speaker 3:I got cotton picking Cotton. Picking cotton growing blue. Lord, I can't live without you, living with you.
Speaker 2:What am I gonna do? One rain away from glory, but it's still the only life I'd ever choose. Well, I finally made some money. It's the cotton picking, cotton growing blue.