How To Stay Ready When Rain Won’t Show Up

Cotton season can feel like a race when it’s warm in April and the rain won’t come. We sit down with Dr. Taylor Singleton and Mrs. Sarah Hobby to get practical about what actually works in a Georgia drought spring: how to avoid “planting on hope,” what counts as a meaningful rain event, and why planting into moisture matters more than any date on the calendar. We also talk through cover crop termination timing and how a dead cover can help conserve soil moisture by creating a protective mat when the forecast is stingy. 

From there, we dig into early-season cotton pest management and the decisions that get harder when soils stay dry. Thrips are already showing up, and we explain why they’re the one insect where we consistently recommend preventive protection, plus what changes when in-furrow products may not activate without moisture. We also cover variety selection, including ThryvOn trait options, the fast turnover of cotton varieties, and why multi-year performance data beats chasing last year’s “perfect” weather results. Along the way, we don’t ignore the economics: fuel and nitrogen costs are up, but cotton price movement changes the math. 

We wrap with stewardship that protects both yield and people. Pivot uniformity can make or break irrigation efficiency, and UPW updates around dicamba, ESA compliance, and documentation are now part of doing the job right. Then we share a vivid pesticide safety lesson using fluorescent dye that shows how exposure spreads from hands to sleeves, cars, pets, and home, plus simple PPE systems that make gloves, eye protection, and respirators easy to use every time. Subscribe, share the episode with a grower or consultant, and leave a review to help more cotton acres start the season ready.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Bringing you all things cotton production and pest management. This is the Talkin' Cotton Podcast with the University of Georgia cotton team. Let's get into the whys of putting on, throwing off, and cutting out. All right. So today is April, Wednesday, April 15th. And this is the first what I would call end season episode of the Talking Cotton Podcast for 2026. We're here today with Dr. Taylor Singleton. Good morning. Dr. Singleton, you doing good? I'm doing good. How about you? Doing pretty good. Sarah's with us. Sarah, how you doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:46

I'm doing great. How's everybody else?

Drought Pressure And Planting Urgency

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Doing great. Doing great. Just real quick, I checked on the uh crop progress report this morning, and uh we're at a whopping 1%. Ooh. Yep. So uh people have gotten started. It does seem like that there's quite a sense of urgency around getting planted right now. Uh I did get some phone calls a week ago out of Dodge, Grady, and and Ben Hill counties that people were starting to either think about planting cotton or they were planting. Oh wow. So those are places typically you don't think about this early getting planted. When whenever I think about cotton going in the ground early, I think about like Dooley County. And I'm sure there has been some cotton in Dooley County planted, but Bill doesn't have to call and tell me because it's known that they get started in April. But you know, it it just does feel like there's a sense of urgency, and a lot of that's got to do with the uh situation we're in with with weather, right? Um some folks have gotten a little bit of rain in the last couple weeks, but really ever since last fall, we hadn't gotten much at all. I mean, we're well, I wrote in the newsletter uh this past week or so, I guess, that a lot of places in Georgia, just in this calendar year, are 10 plus inches behind. So um we just have not gotten the rain that we normally do uh in the in the fall and the springtime. If Wes was here, he could probably talk about it for 30 minutes. But but uh he's not. So, you know, we're just in a bad situation with it being as dry as it is, and we really need some rain, something something fierce, uh, just to even think about doing much stuff out in the field. But we just gotta be ready to take advantage whenever we do get a rain or you know, turning pivots on and stuff like that. We just gotta be ready to take advantage of those opportunities because we don't want to get a rain and not be in position to take advantage of it and lose that moisture again. So it's just it's just a tough situation right now. But the the other thing that I'm trying to keep in mind for myself, if nothing else, is that we are only in the second week of April.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

I know. I also have the strong urge to get out there and plant something. I think it's being tired of sitting inside and going to meetings, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

But yeah, I keep having to remind myself too, it's only the second week of April. We've we've got time, but it's nice and warm, the sun's out, it feels good. I I've got the itch too to plant something. See, I'm used to planting right now.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Yes, it's an entomologist. You want to get all the bugs to get their plot started.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

So yeah, and um and there's reasons to get out there early, right? And so, which we've done a little bit on the experiment station. Of course, dot Dodd Roberts isn't here with us today. He's planted a little bit uh on the station, some fairly early stuff, and then I've planted a little bit to try to uh the stuff that I planted was dry land and trying to take advantage of moisture and all that good stuff. I think we made a good decision uh there. But you know, at the end of the day, the big thing I gotta remind myself and remind others about is that we have just got this phenomenal planting window that spans two months, and we can take advantage of it. Just gotta have a little bit of patience. It's not time to start freaking out yet. It's not time to start having conversations about dusting in cotton in April. I mean, that's just that is awful early to start pressing the panic button. And so we have got ample time to uh take advantage of getting a crop planted. We just got to be in that position to be ready. You know, if you're in a dry land situation, having fertilizer spread, uh, you know, ready to go whenever it rains, and then you just fall in with your strip till whatever kind of tillage you're doing uh before you plant, and then taking advantage of that once that rain uh presents itself.

Planting Into Moisture Without Replanting

SPEAKER_02 4:59

So So that brings up a that makes me think of a question. I got a question for you. So let's say, you know, we are still pretty early in the in the planting window. So for example, my house, it hadn't rained, it seemed like for a month, two months, maybe, I don't know. Then we got two tenths about two weeks ago. Yeah, and it hadn't rained since. And I saw on one of the weather apps that I look look at that we may have a little chance of rain, yeah. Maybe towards the end of this week or weekend, maybe into next weekend. So, you know, very wide spaced out rain events and lots of period of drought in between. So, what does that look like for the for the crop? So if if we get a good rain and we we plant, but then we don't have rain again for another two weeks plus, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

I wouldn't consider a quarter inch in the situation we're in, a good rain.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So that's a that's the further point. I wouldn't be making moves on.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

That's a good uh herbicide activating rainfall, right? So it depends on the herbicide. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

It's uh you know, a quarter inch of rain can actually do more damage, I would think. In terms of if somebody jumps out there and plants on a quarter inch of rainfall, and then the seed swells and kind of germinates, but then there's not enough moisture for it to keep growing, it dies, and then you you have the opportunity to replant, you know, you don't want that. That's that's not good. So, you know, I I'd say it planting into moisture is the key right now. So if you get, you know, an inch of rain, let's say, that would be incredible, right? And then get in there and plant into moisture if you're in dry land, putting the seed below the moisture line to make sure that you don't run out, and then you know, let that crop come up, right? I mean, I planted this stuff on Friday, it was an inch deep. So I mean, it deeper than I like to go on cotton, but it was below the moisture line. We don't have any rain in the forecast, so I don't have any doubt that that stuff's gonna come up, no problem. And then went and checked it on Monday, and it had germinated, the root was going down, and and I thought we were in the clear. So, but in that field, we got an inch and a half, right? Let it sit for a couple days to kind of check it, monitor it, see what it was doing, spread fertilizer, strip, tilled it, still had moisture, and then run out there and planted that deep. And then we did spray some pre-herbicides, even though there's no rain in the forecat. Just in I mean, you just never know, right? Something could something could pop up. But and we don't know the we it's the first time in that field, so we don't know the history. We don't know what weeds there are in that field. Um, I can guess on a lot of them, but you know, you you just aren't ever a hundred percent sure. So wanted to put something out there to make sure that we're in that position, right? Putting ourselves in that position to be successful. So, but you know, making moves on a on a quarter inch of rain, I I'm not sure that that's the the best thing to do, but but the the keys to me are putting it in moisture and ensuring that you got enough to get a stand between rain events, because like you're talking about, they're just few and far between. I mean, we're just not we're just not catching rain.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah, it's it's crazy dry. It is absolutely crazy dry.

Terminating Cover To Save Water

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, and I mean, as you know, we were doing county meetings all all winter long and and driving from place to place, and and of course, whenever you drive these roads, I mean, we get on these roads very often. Uh, Dr. Roberts, he'd go, he'd say, Yeah, there's supposed to be water there. There's supposed to be water all in these woods right here. And he'd say, What these once these trees leaf out, it's over. And it was like, we're we're gonna lose everything we got. And lo and behold, he was right. And it just it is dry. It is just really, really dry. And I didn't really think about it until about February or the first part of March. It's like, man, we just have not caught the rain that we normally do. So we just need to we just need to be in a good spot and ready to take advantage of a lot of that stuff. So putting the seed in moisture right now, I think, is the key. And if you don't have moisture, don't do it. I mean, that's kind of what I think um in terms of planting. But another thing, Dr. Singleton, that you and I have talked about a little bit back and forth is terminating cover. Yeah. Because in my opinion, anything that is alive in a field right now is stealing moisture from you.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Anything that is alive is gonna suck up the moisture that we do get. But I think, of course, there's probably some caveats to that. Um, so yeah, especially in our area here around Tifton, as we get closer to what would be our perfect planting window, anything that's alive, um, if we get a good rain, it's likely gonna suck it all up. Yeah. And um, we're gonna need that moisture like you were just talking about to have that in our seed bed, you know, ready for us to roll. Um, actually, I was talking to a grower in the southeast part of the state last week, and uh I know that they're a little bit further out from planting than we are probably in this area. And, you know, in that area, he he shared with me his cover's still going. It's still growing, which makes sense. Um, you know, in that part of the state, we're a little bit further out. So if we get a rainfall now, you know, that's not going to be moisture that we need for our seed bed for planting into. So yeah, definitely something to keep in mind. We we've got a lot of cover that needs to needs to be terminated so that when we do get that perfect rainfall, it don't it don't steal that precious moisture from us because we need it. Yeah, there is not enough close rainfall events on the on the 10 day right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Well, and the other thing that I think about is number one, you don't want it stealing what you got. But number two, if you go ahead and terminate it, when we do catch one, you're likely to keep it for longer. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

That's right. Yeah, especially if you're gonna you're gonna leave that cover there, you're gonna have a nice mat. That'll help preserve the moisture that we do get. Absolutely. Yeah. Because I I don't foresee at this moment in time an issue with that cover retaining too much moisture. No, so you know, if we were getting a lot of rainfall, that'd be a different conversation if it was really wet, but it is so dang dry that that could absolutely help us preserve the moisture that we need as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So yeah, good point. So, I mean, we've been out there terminating what little bit of cover we've got on the experiment station for the last couple weeks and and trying to put our especially on this dry land ground. I mean, trying to kill what's out there just so we can be ready. And I mean, there's a it keeps changing, but it looks like in the next 10 days we might catch something.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Maybe, hopefully. Cross your fingers.

Pre Herbicide Decisions In Dryland

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah. But I mean, we're talking about spreading a little bit of fertilizer next week. We sprayed the last little bit of cover on dry land um Monday afternoon. So we're just trying to trying to stay ready. Yeah. You know, so with some of this, you know, we did mention some pre-emerge herbicides, right? And I mean, some people I I asked Dr. Culpepper last week what I should spray in this one field, and he asked if I had enough moisture to get a stand. And I told him to just call me the little engine that could because I think I can, kind of thing. And he he said, okay, well then spray warrant, you know. But I mean, if we jump out there and and plant in the moisture, and like I talked about earlier, that seed swells and dies, and and we have to replant and we sprayed warrant over it, we could be putting ourselves in a in a bad spot. And so it's just keeping those kind of number one, if you're confident you can get a stand, then that's a route to go down. But applying those encapsulated aceticlore products, whether it's inversor or warrant or whatever, right now on dry land is a is a roll of the dice. And my it's a benefit because it'll wait for rain, but if you don't get a stand, then you're in a worse spot almost.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Yeah. So yeah, you know, it seems that we have another level of complexity placed upon us this planting season, which I know every year is really complex. Yeah. Um, but it seems especially complex going into this ground season. So lots of decisions to make, but lots of planning for what ifs. So it would be a really good idea for you to stay in touch with your county agent and share with them your plan and let them help you make sure that you're set up for, you know, what if this happens, what can we do next? Yeah. Something to keep in mind.

Cotton Price Lift And Input Costs

Thrips Risk And Preventive Control

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, because I mean, if you if you run into a situation where you applied one of those encapsulated acetylcholore products pre-emerge on cotton, and then you have to replant, that's another pass across the field you gotta make in terms of freshening up that strip to get a better stand, right? And so it's you know, it could become a costly. Fuel is high. Yeah, fuel, yeah. Oh God, yeah. Fuel has gone up, nitrogen's gone up, right? So those are just things that we gotta we gotta think about in terms of making it work. But the the other good thing is that if you watch the cotton price, which I think almost everybody who listens to this watches the cotton price, over the last couple weeks, uh it has shot up, which is great. It's at I got my text this morning it for new crop cotton is 77 cents. Oh wow, yeah. So it's uh I mean it's up 10 cents, which is great. That's not gonna cover everything, but it'll that helps. Um all right, Sarah. So what what are we normally thinking about insect-wise? Since Dr. Roberts is not here.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

I get to fill in.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

You get to fill in. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Well, normally we're planting right now in order to get ahead of the thrips coming in.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Right. So thrips are a big concern right now. Early season. One of the most consistent insect pests of cotton. Yep. The most, I guess. I think it is the most consistent pest. You can always count on them. You can, and they're out there. I've seen pictures of them of uh Scott Brown down in Cockwick County, sent a picture on Saturday or Sunday, I guess, and his truck was covered.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. In thrips?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Uh-huh. Wow. And so, I mean, they are all over the place. So that is certainly something. It's the only insect we recommend a preventive treatment.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

So gotta keep that in mind whenever we're talking about uh thrips and planting. I did talk to Jeremy Kickler yesterday on the phone, and he brought up using Ag Logic, and it's expensive, right? Everything's expensive, I guess. But um, ag Logic is certainly expensive, but especially right now with the lack of rainfall, like can you even get it activated? Right. And so you gotta have moisture to get uptake of that product or any other product, or rather, and anything that you apply in furrow. And so, you know, we we need to be cognizant of those things.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Have you heard anything about from the variety trials like with Thrive on or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah, so so there's other options for thrips control, right? And so and Thrive on's one of those, and it's a trait, so you don't have to worry about activating a chemistry or coming back with an extra trip with a foliar insecticide treatment. Uh, and the it's not that it's resistant, right? They're still there, but they don't like it. They don't like to eat it. And so there's certainly some benefit there uh in a lot of ways, I'd say more ways than one, but in this type situation where we're not getting rain and there's not uptake of these chemistries and and things like that, you know, there's certainly a benefit to using that type technology. We did evaluate two of those varieties in our on-farm program last year. Uh, if you want to see how they did, I would encourage you to go look at those results. It's the two varieties with a B3TXF at the end of their name. But there are other Thrive on varieties out there too, and they're constantly releasing new ones. We're looking at I think three this year. So they're and the most of them are very new, like in the like new releases for the last two years. And uh, we did the OVTs had some uh good results, some other consultants that that share some of their data with me had good results from some of their newer thrive on varieties. So I I think that we're optimistic in terms of gain and yield in some of those newer varieties, and so that's something I would look at. Right. Uh, and I mean, especially in southwest Georgia, right, where the plant bug thing is is real, you know, or even you know, over into Terrell County, Sumter County, up into Dooley County, places like that where they fight plant bugs regular and where the late season thing has gotten gotten serious for them. I I would definitely think about some of those uh type varieties and and uh particularly some of the some of the newer ones that they're coming out with that have had really strong yield potential relative to non-thribeen varieties.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So certainly something to consider, especially with the situation we're in right now. But uh in terms of other varieties and stuff like that, I mean, there's you know, not just thrive on, but go take a look. If you hadn't chose a variety yet, you know, take a look at those results, take a look at the OVTs. You know, we would there's a lot of good ones out there. Somebody called yesterday, Tuck Price in Cook County called yesterday, and he said he needs a variety that'll come up without water, and it'll make the best cotton we've ever made.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Hey, that is easy, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah. I said, Oh, okay, well that's let me just pull this up real quick and see if I can find something for you.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

But you know how often is it that someone actually doesn't go with their tried and true?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

I think that most years people will try something different on a small area. Okay, uh to on a limited extent. But it's I think that that's because we turn them over so fast. And so these new varieties are constantly being released. I mentioned one to uh seed rep yesterday that's like one that I would consider tried and true. It's been around for six years, it's a good yielding cotton variety, it's not the best quality in the world, but it does pretty good. And um, he was like, Yeah, we're done with that one. And so it's like, okay. Wow. You know, but then you got some stuff that's been around for three years, and it's like that's the new, the new thing, right? And so it's they just turn over so fast that people try to gain experience with with something that people point them in that direction, say, hey, this is kind of the direction that X company's moving. Why don't you try a little bit of that? And and so um people will try that just to get a handle on it, put it in a couple different situations, see how it does, and then you know, make that decision going forward. And sometimes they'll do really good, and sometimes they won't, and they'll try something different, you know. But I would say the majority of guys know what works for them, and the majority of their farms are gonna go in what they know works, kind of thing. And and I mean, I know guys who plant, you know, three to five varieties on their whole place. Okay, and so you know, you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket because what if something crazy happens? Right, right. But you know, you for the most part, people know what works. And so, but I would encourage people to look at different things and try some of this newer stuff just because the one that you like right now ain't gonna be around forever. Yeah, right. So it's you know, it's a good idea just to put a couple of strips in a field of a couple different varieties and kind of see how they do relative to each other.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

But um along those lines, um, is there anything that you're looking at on a small plot scale that you're real excited about for the future that you can talk about?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

For varieties?

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

I'm always looking at new varieties, and I mean, I you know. When a new variety gets released, there's always buzz around it. And it's like it's the next best thing. Right. It's like, oh man. Like if you like this, this one's better.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

I see the advertisements too.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, and it's like it's like, oh man, you know, this is great, right? And so yeah, I try to look at that stuff just and I don't get excited about it until it's like you see it for a couple years and then it's in Georgia and these are and it's consistent, right? For two years, it's like, all right, yeah, that one's good, you know. And I'd plant a lot of acres in it. But whenever a brand new, so like we're in 2026 right now, and so anything that was released just for this year that everybody's you know, oh man, in our plots last year, it did so good, right? I'm not I'm not getting excited about that until you want to see it over time, yeah. Until it does it over. Because I mean, last year, if you base everything off of what happened last year, I mean, what we had happen last year does not happen every year. It was perfect for cotton. And I was listening to the new pecan podcast yesterday, last night.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

I did not know we had one.

Pivot Uniformity And Water Efficiency

SPEAKER_00 23:16

It's it was really good. And I was listening to Andrew and Dr. Lenny Wells talk about how last year was terrible for pecans and we don't want a dry fall and all that kind of stuff. And I'm sitting there listening, I'm like, man, this sounds like perfect cotton weather. Because it was. And we didn't have bullrod and we didn't have hurricanes, and you know, we we got rain for the most part when we needed it, and then at the end of the year when we didn't when we weren't using a ton of water, we didn't have it, and that's that's great. And so last year was really a perfect year for us in terms of weather. So basing how these varieties perform off of last year is flawed, I think, just because it was a perfect year. Everything did good last year, so it it's not it's maybe it's not the best representation of what actually happens in Georgia, because a lot of times we catch those rains in September and some do better than others, and it just is what it is. But you know, basing it off of one year, I think, is not the way we want to go. We we've got to look at multiple years, multiple environments, all that, all that jazz, all that fun stuff that we talk about at at meetings and and things like that. But you know, I even looked at some stuff that was really fit for Texas last year. And it it did pretty good here. And so, but a lot of that I think has to do with the year that we had. So it just you know, la last year was a really good year, but going forward, you know, we don't need to switch everything up on the farm based off of last year, right? So, you know, another thing that I read I read in the newsletter about and was talking about little little things and getting ready is like pivot uniformity. You know, and I that's one thing that just drives me nuts. I mean, it drives me crazy. And I know that like if Wes was here, I could get him good and fired up about it. But man, if whenever you go look on Google Earth, do y'all spend much time on Google Earth?

SPEAKER_02 25:28

I don't spend as much I know how much time you spend on Google Earth, and I don't spend I don't spend that much time, I don't spend as much time. But I do enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Yeah, I don't spend as much time as Dr. Robert.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

No, we'll be out there putting out plots and he's pulling up Google Earth what it did last year. Them two are Google Earth's biggest supporters.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

And so, but like if you pull just pull up a pivot on Google Earth and you see them streaks around the field, God, that just drives me crazy. I mean, it's like that is such an easy fix. And and guess what? You can call your county agent and they'll come check your uniformity.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Yeah, and I if Wes was here, I'm sure he would say this, but now more than ever, we need all the water we can get and we need it where it needs to go. Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

So yes, and I mean, with the situation we're in with water, with lack of rainfall, I mean, and particularly in a crop like corn right now, that I'd make sure that that thing's putting out uniform. But before we plant cotton and get too far into it, man, I'd get out there and check that thing, call your county agent, they come for free. It's a value-added service, is what they call it. And they'll come check it and tell you what you need to do. That's where the cost comes in, right? You may have to get new nozzles or whatever it is to put on your pivot and all that good stuff. But but man, like you can lose a lot of money on on over applying or underapplying and giving parts of a field. And there's really nice slides in the newsletter um that illustrate exactly how much can be lost. And so, man, that's something that I'd be thinking about too right now.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Not only is it gonna save you money, but that evidence is gonna live on Google Earth for years, right? Yeah, and I'll find it. Dr. Camp Han, Dr. Philip Roberts are gonna see it 10 years down the road.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

You'll find it. You can see it on a yield monitor, like on a combine, on a grain combine for corn, right? I mean, it it you see them red bands in a green field. Uh there ain't but a couple things that can be, you know. And this is not a corn podcast. But I mean, at the end of the day, that's probably the easiest way to see it is on a yield map, right? It's really easy to see on Google Earth, though, on bare dirt. So it's uh, you know, it drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

But we don't know what the future holds for the year, right? But I can imagine we need all the product that we can to sell.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Yeah, and it's you know, I saw some stuff on I'm not on Facebook anymore, but I saw somebody had posted something and it was like the the aquifer down there in southwest Georgia is below like maybe 15 or 20 feet below where it's where it normally is. So it's like we we gotta make sure that if we're gonna water, we're putting out what we say we're putting out.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

And putting it where we need to put it.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

We need to be very stewards. Yeah, stewards of our resources, very efficient because uh we're getting a taste of what happens when they're not available to us.

Boom Height And Public Perception

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Yeah, that's right. Hey, speaking of stewardship, yeah. I sent you a picture yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

You did. Uh Dr. Camp Han was operating his new high boy sprayer with boom at an appropriate height above his target. Very impressive. I'm gonna put that in my slides. You should. Yeah, that was a good picture.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

It felt really low.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yeah, it was that was really low. It was really low. Hey, you were doing it though. I was proud of you, but that that is really low, and that's hard to do. So it's very hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

You know what's even harder is adjusting as you go.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

I that field, I don't know if it's in the picture, but I was over Primrose and it was low. But then we had rye in spots, and so you had to jump up to get above the rye. And then whenever you got out of the rye, you had to go back down. So, and and I was by 75. I wanted to make sure that people knew that we were doing it.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

People are always watching. People are watching, people are watching and court of public opinion. It's it's a tough one. It is a tough court. It is it for sure, especially when people don't understand, you know, what's going on, the parameters, you know, how when when the boom is really, really high and they already don't understand, it's not a good look. So kudos to you. That looked really good.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

So how was UPW?

SPEAKER_02 29:40

UPW was good. Um, it was it was we did, I think we ended up at 18 meetings, about 2,000 people attended. So it was great to see everybody at UPW. I know um, you know, it was good to get together. The conversation was really hard. Um it was that it's it is a tough year when it comes to um new pesticide regulations, drowning ESA Endangered Species Act, and and DICAMBA as well. Um, so recognize that it is a really tough conversation, a really tough situation. The new regulations we have are really challenging to navigate. So thank you to everybody who came out and was very patient and just you know, willing to hear us out and and willing to do what it takes to use the products correctly, um, in in compliance with these regulations. It's just it's a tough situation. Yeah. But unfortunately, that is the reality of the situation that we're in. So let's all work together and and use the products correctly.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Document what we need to document. We are here to help you navigate this. So, but just really want to say thank you, everybody, for your patience and willingness to hear us out.

Fluorescent Dye Lesson On Exposure

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Yeah, yeah. I went to one of the trainings, I had a dentist appointment the day of the one in Tifton. So I had to drive to Douglas to get trained on UPW. And you were there, I saw you though. I don't I don't spray dicamba on the experiment station for sure, but I just like to know what's going on, really, and and just good refreshers and all that fun stuff. And and two, if I missed it, Dr. Culpepper wouldn't let me live it down. So I tried to skip one time and he did not like that. So um but one of the coolest things that you talked about was the the study with the dye.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Oh, yeah, pesticide safety. Yep, and yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Uh Sarah, it was a it was a slide and it talked about you know handling pesticides and stuff like that, and and you know, exposure and and and how people get exposed. But it was fascinating to see what they did was they did they paint somebody's hands?

SPEAKER_02 31:55

So what they did is they had a fluorescent dye. And with that fluorescent dye, it only shows up, you know, under the black light or the whatever. So they had a mist placed on somebody's hands. So they just misted their hands with this fluorescent dye, so it showed up um on their gloves, in theory. And so then they kind of tracked it throughout that person's day and how they interacted with their clothing. So um the sleeves of their shirt, you know, you roll up your sleeves. Now that dye has that mist of dye on your hands has transferred to your sleeves. Um, messing with the hood, putting sunglasses on and off, um, wiping hands on on your knees, on your pants. Um, they even did where entering a treated area before the REI has expired, you can see that dye starting to show up on the bottoms of their feet, on the bottoms of their socks when they're not wearing waterproof um shoes. Um you can just kind of see that dye spread throughout the day. But on their dog. They pet their dog. That's the most interesting part to me is that you know, we now have that dye, we have that simulated pesticide residue all over us when we're not wearing appropriate PPE. Um, if we were wearing PPE, you know, we would take off that PPE, we'd be good to go, no concern. Yep. But when we have that fluorescent dye, that simulated residue on us, and we go home, pet the dog, hug your kids, play on the floor, sit on the furniture, all of a sudden that dye, that simulated pesticide residue is now being transferred to other parts of our lives where folks are not wearing PPE, right? And may come into contact with those residues. Yeah, it's it's eye-opening. That's a yeah, that's a a personal, a personal passion of mine. We we need to talk more about pesticide safety. Yeah. Um, you know, the the safety calculations that are done when a pesticide product is registered or re-registered. There's a lot, a lot of work that's done on the safety side to make sure, especially consumers and and those who may interact with a pesticide residue in their day-to-day environment are safe from the impacts of the residue. Thousand X level of safety, you know, from a from a level that may potentially cause harm. So lots of consumer safety. But I think we forget and and sometimes maybe, you know, in the hustle and bustle, overlook the fact that those safety calculations are also done for applicators as well, but they're assuming that we're wearing our PPE.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

So it's that's a big assault.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Yeah, yeah. So I just I think I think a lot about this as I'm going around and visiting folks. And I grew up on a farm, right? So I think about my own, you know, exposure to pesticide over the course of of my lifetime too. You know, we have to protect ourselves, and and it's easy to get caught up in the moment, but it's really a long-term decision that we're making at that moment. We we need to be wearing our PPE so that we can protect our personal health, not only in the short term, but also in the long term. Yeah. You know, a lifetime of pesticide applications, a career of, you know, just hey, I'm I'm I'm really busy at this moment, but what does that mean for long-term quality of life and long-term health? So everybody deserves to live a long and healthy life. And let us help you make sure that you're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

That's a great visual.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

A lot of times I could send it to you as cool.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

It's like it's out of sight, out of mind. That's right. Just too busy, like you said, to stop and do what is necessary to keep them and the people they love safe. That's exactly right. That's a great visual.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Well, and and then it was just hands, right? So it didn't take into account like the bottom of your feet. Mm-hmm. And so one of the most absorbent parts of your body, your shoes, uh, like your feet, all kind of stuff. Yeah, it's it was wild. But I hey, tell us about uh the agent that called asking about gloves.

PPE Systems Gloves Aprons Respirators

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Oh, yeah. Shout out to uh to our our friend in Barry and County, Ben called me and he said that um he had a grower call him looking for the Lowe's part number for the gloves for pesticide applications. So happy to send that along. There is a lot of options. There's a ton of places that you can get PPE. Oh, yeah. Lowe's is is a good one. It's pretty cheap. Uh Amazon. I mean, you can get stuff everywhere. Yeah. But it's really easy. I think that I mean, I'm I'm this way. If it's not in front of my face, I do not remember it. So I'm actually right now, uh, I've just ordered. Now that I've been back in the office, I've just reordered all my PPE for the summer gloves. I I like to wear a Tyvek suit. Of course, that's that's not label mandated. I just like to be super safe.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Um, but you know, I want everybody on my crew to have waterproof booties available to them. Um, we talked about this a little bit at UPW, but if you're a mixing and loader, uh, a waterproof apron is a great way to protect the organs on the front of your body. That's right. Looks absolutely ridiculous. It does. But, you know, think about your long-term health.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Um, so we've got some of that stuff ordered. You know, if you're using Ingenia this year, there's a respirator requirement. So we've got some respirators ordered, but I want to have all that stuff at hand so that way when it's time to mix and load, make that application. Um, I don't have to search around, waste time looking for that stuff. I got a box in my truck, eye protection, you know, that could stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Legally, you have to.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

Legally, you have to.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Worker protection stuff. Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Legally you have to. Um, you know, if you're gonna use any pesticide product, there is a PPE requirement. If that product has a record keeping requirement to document that PPE, you gotta have it.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

Anyways, so it it's a it's a label requirement. We gotta have it on hand, but you know, it is it's there's a lot going on, but just keep your health, your safety, and your family's health and safety in mind as you go into the season and take that 6.2 seconds it takes to put on a pair of gloves, 34 cents. Everybody can do that. If if you need help getting yourself set up with a system that flows well for your mixing and loaders, call your county agent. We we can help you out with that.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Replicative research. Yeah, I did it three times.

Microplastics Cotton Clothing And Athleisure

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Three times in my office. I I tested it out, and time took me 6.2 seconds to put on that pair of gloves. Yep. So that's right. You know, think about with any chemical substance, not just a pesticide product, you know, your risk of injury is a calculation of your exposure over time and how toxic that that substance is. I mean, any chemical substance, but yeah, you know, pesticides included in that. So think about, yeah, well, we may not be using toxic products, right? But our exposure over time can can significantly increase our chance of injury. So just just think about that as you go into the season and you know any of that bioaccumulate in our bodies? That's a really good question. You know, there's a lot of there's a lot of um chemical analysis and safety analysis that's done with pesticide products when they're registered or re-registered. And we know that when a product reaches the marketplace, if it's used according to the label, if it's used how the label indicates from a safety perspective, like a human safety perspective, are we wearing our PPE? Are we making the application at the use patterns, the use rates that indicated on the label, nothing more, then we know that how we would be exposed to that product in our day-to-day environment as a consumer or an applicator, we are safe from the impacts of that product over time. As long as it's used according to the label, as long as you know we were wearing our PPE. Um, so we we can be assured that we're safe from that perspective. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

You know what does bioaccumulate?

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Heavy metals.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Well, yeah, microplastics.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Yes, micro plastic. I listened to a podcast the other day.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Did you? I watched the new documentary on Netflix the other day.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Oh who was on the podcast? I hadn't seen the lady who um professor who did yeah, she was on Joe Rogan.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Oh, yeah, that's it. Maybe I need to cut it out. I did see a clip of her on the website.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

What's the documentary on Netflix?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

The plastic detox.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

Yeah. Oh, interesting. And there's a website and everything.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Yeah, it's it was pretty cool. I thought it was interesting, but um, they talked a little bit about what you wear, and like the there was a a couple of fashion designers on there talking about the importance of using natural fibers and all that function. Cool, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was it was pretty neat. It was pretty neat.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

I need to watch the documentary. I listened, like I said, to the podcast, but it was very interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

So um, she was sharp though. I I enjoyed watching that, but yeah, microplastics accumulate in our body. So hey, make sure I uh at yesterday was Callan's birthday, so I uh I did buy some clothes. I don't normally do that. Oh, that's okay, that's dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

That's dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

But the the big void, I think, for cotton right now, especially for women, and y'all can correct me if I'm wrong. We will is the athleisure.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

That's correct. Yeah, that's correct.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Lululemon. Yeah, Lulu Lululemon has zero cotton, but they should have some.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

We'd say probably both most athleisure brands have very little cotton. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Uh very little cotton.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

I have been hit so hard with ads for all these cotton brands now. Yeah, because I search it and look for it, and so now it's popping up. So if you are interested in that, if there is a woman out there listening, start searching for it on your Instagram and you'll start getting ads for these brands that you prioritize cotton in their athleisure. Right. Um, because they do exist. They're few and far between, but they do exist.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Cotton Incorporated has a new or they've done a lot of research on a new fabric that's called cotton flex, and uh, and that's to fit that athleisure type market. But I actually did, so I say all this to say I got Callan some some athleisure wear. Good for you. That was 95% cotton.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

So I was able to find some. So that's they do exist, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

You just have to search for it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

You gotta look. And while Auburn was playing in the NIT championship, I was looking for athleisure wear for You know, I saw her selling a bunch of stuff on Facebook and I almost texted you to see. Oh, she's been cleaning up.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

You're making her do that.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

I've brainwashed her. No, I did not, I did not ask her to go through all of her clothes and sit get rid of what was not cotton, but she she did it on her own. And because she's been she's been brainwashed. She has. And it's like she anytime that she puts on like a pair of leggings that she has that's not, she's like, I hate this. Like there's scratch.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

She's considerate of her health, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Um so she's even gotten where she won't heat up like leftovers in a plastic thing.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Oh, no, I don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

You know I do.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

I know to get rid of my um my coffee maker. That's my next step. Is I got I gotta get it.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

Dude, the coffee maker, yeah. I know, yeah. Coffee maker.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

I've already spent money on it, so I want to like use it up before I switch. I'm gonna go with French press, I think.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

I have a French press. I used to use it. I got Matthew one for Christmas. Yep. So is it glass or is it like the insulated kind? I have an insulated one at home. So but I hadn't used it in a really long time. I used to use it all the time because whenever I was at Auburn, there was a place that roasted their own coffee and it was really good, and that's what I drank all. But now I'm a Folgers man. But probably need to buy coffee in a metal container.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

Cafe Bustella is like my favorite coffee. It comes in a uh yellow uh tin can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

So hey, all good stuff. Yeah. Microplastics do accumulate.

SPEAKER_03 43:35

Yeah.

One Chance Inputs Nematodes And Readiness

SPEAKER_00 43:35

If Bob were here, he'd tell you there's one chance. He's like a broken record. One chance. One chance, but before you close the furrow. Before you close the furrow. And that's what that's kind of what Jeremy was asking about the other day, or yesterday rather, but talking about the expense of Ag Logic if you have a nematode problem ver versus a nematode variety and all that kind of stuff. And if you don't want to plant a nematode variety and you know you have a nematode problem, then you gotta do something. And it doesn't matter if it's Ag Logic or Vellum or Averland or whatever, take your pick, right? But um all of them cost money. And so you're gonna have to pick one. But you know, just uh keeping in mind that we gotta we we know that the situation is tough on the farm. I would say with the price going up, it's improved. So that's good. It's still not perfect, but at the end of the day, you still gotta take care of what you gotta take care of to make the crop. And again, it's all about being in position, right? Last year we were in position to take advantage of the incredible crop that we made, second best crop ever. And so we were able to take advantage of that because we put ourselves in that position to take advantage of that, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:46

But you know what Dr. Roberts would say?

SPEAKER_00 44:48

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 44:49

With uh you only get one chance, he would say, You in that field have history.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Yes, it's true. It's true. He had history in that field, and I did not believe him. But hey, he was right. So go with your gut. Go with your gut, yeah. That's right. That's right. So if Dr. Roberts would hear, I'd ask him about Jassids, but there's not really much to update other than what he's talked about. Right. We just released his episode a couple weeks ago, so I think everybody has the most up-to-date information. It's been really dry and really warm. So, you know, we did have a couple of cold events and and that was really good. But, you know, just need to be vigilant, and it doesn't matter if it's with jazz or white flies or thrips or whatever. So just gotta be be vigilant, be out there and be looking and uh make sure that we're ready whenever that opportunity presents itself. Again, just staying ready, right? I think that's kind of the kind of the message for today is that's a good message, yep. Being ready to take advantage of an opportunity when it uh presents itself.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Yep, it's it's so darn dry, but you know, over the next 10 days, it's like a kind of a good opportunity to get everything ready. Yep. Finalize all your equipment set up, make sure everything's ready to go.

Questions Next Topics And Closing

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Yep. Well, if there's anything else that we didn't cover in this that you have questions about or anything that we should talk about next time, reach out to us or reach out to your county agent. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of Talking Cotton with the UGA Cotton Team. If you have any questions about anything we talked about today, or if there's anything you'd like for us to talk about in the future, please contact your local UGA County Extension agent. And as always, you can find us on all major podcast platforms. Be sure to like, share with your friends, and subscribe so you can stay up to date.