Georgia Cotton Check-In

Cotton can look great from the road and still be quietly losing yield in the rows. We sit down with a roundtable of Georgia Extension agents (Savannah Tanner - Emanuel County, Will Brown - Appling County, and Seth McAllister - Terrell County) to compare notes from across the state: where the crop stands after a rocky planting season, how far along fields really are from early square to peak bloom, and what those growth stage differences mean for every decision you make next.

We dig into the calls agents are getting right now, starting with weather-driven challenges like herbicide programs that “fell apart” after leaching rain, and the scramble to keep pigweed, spiderwort, and nutsedge from escaping under the canopy. We also talk cotton pest management in real terms: aphids fading as fungus moves in, plant bug pressure that feels lighter than last year in some areas, stink bug scouting that is about to matter more, and the big question that keeps coming up, cotton jassid. The message is consistent across counties: scout for jassids, but do not stop scouting for everything else.

Then we tackle fertility and plant health problems that can fool even experienced growers. After side-dress applications and sudden downpours, the question becomes whether nutrients leached and if you should reapply. We walk through why yellow cotton is not always nitrogen, how sulfur deficiency can show up fast, and why documenting weak spots now is the best way to solve nematodes, fertility issues, and pest injury while the evidence is still in the field. If you’re looking for practical Georgia cotton advice you can use this week, this conversation is built for that.

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, share this with a grower or consultant, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What are you seeing in your cotton fields right now?

Transcript

Welcome To Talking Cotton

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Bringing you all things cotton production and pest management. This is the Talking Cotton Podcast with the University of Georgia Cotton Team. Let's get into the whys of putting on, throwing off, and cutting out.

Georgia Crop Progress And Timing

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Alright, so today is July the 22nd, and uh we're here on another episode of the Talking Cotton Podcast. Of course, I'm Camp Han, uh based out of Tifton, and uh just looking at the crop progress report that was ending on on this past Sunday, which would have been uh the 19th, I guess it was. The crop's moving, it's moving in the right direction, which is a good thing. We're looking at 86% of the crop is squaring, uh 32% is set in bowls, and then 91% of the crop in Georgia is fairer or better. So uh looking really good is kind of interesting if we look at that uh set in bowls number. We're actually a little bit behind, about 7% behind, which is kind of interesting. I started looking and uh digging into some of the data this past week actually to see if that held true with some of our degree days and stuff like that. But I'm not gonna talk about that on the podcast because I want everybody to come to Statesboro on July 29th, and I'm gonna talk about it there. So, you know, hoping to see everybody at that meeting over there at the Neesmith Lane Conference Center on July 29th. I know gonna be a good crowd, gonna be a good

Meet The Extension Agent Panel

SPEAKER_02 1:37

crowd. But today we're gonna do something a little different uh because everybody's been on the road doing meetings and stuff like that. So I asked a few agents to jump on the podcast with us. So today uh we got us a good crowd of extension agents uh throughout the state of Georgia representing different geographies, but we got Savannah Tanner over there in Emmanuel County, Will Brown in Appling County, and Seth McAllister in Terrell County. So excited to have them on the podcast. I think this is everybody's first time on this podcast. Savannah's a pro, though, at podcasting. So so we we it's not the first time on a podcast, but on this one. So it it'll be good, but I kind of want to go around and just kind of get an update from everybody on what the crop looks like. And um, so what we'll do is we'll kind of start over in the east side of the state with Savannah and then go down to Will and then over uh to Seth in Terrell

Regional Crop Updates Across Georgia

SPEAKER_02 2:31

County. So, Savannah, why don't you kick us off with what the cotton looks like over there?

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Yeah, so um obviously um like you said, we've all been on uh not vacation, but uh conferencing and uh camp. So I had to go to two weeks of camp this year. Um so that's been kind of put me behind and as far as being in the field, but for the most part the crop looks pretty good. Um I will say we you mentioned that we are behind. I think we are behind um compared to this year or compared to other years, just because we had a pretty rocky start to planting season, so we've got a lot of young cotton this year. Um as far as um bloom, we're in the most of it's gonna be in that second week. Um we've got some in the first. We may have a field, you know, here and there that's in the third, but um looking more at like the second week. Um as far as aphids go, the fungus is hit pretty hard, so we we hope that those are fitting to start kind of dying out. Um but overall uh it's looking pretty good over here.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Good, good. Will what about you, man?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yeah, I'm Will Brown. I'm over in uh Alton County, Baxter, Georgia, and uh our situation's uh a lot of the same as Savannah just mentioned. Uh a little behind. Uh, we got caught anywhere from early square to approaching peak blue. A lot of people didn't want to get going the early part of May. We did catch a shower too early in May that that gave us the moisture we needed to get planted, but we still had some cool soil temperatures, so a lot of people wanted to hold off a little bit and let the let the soil warm up. And by that time, uh that last week in May, it rained about every day that last week in May. So we were able to get a good bit of our cotton planted in the earlier part of May, but we still have a good majority of our cotton planted in June. So that is put us back. As far as uh we we've had the uh fungus come in on our cotton junior and it's starting to take it out. Um getting pretty heavy across several fields. Also uh cotton starting to really green up now that we've uh started putting out some of our side drinks. I think a lot of those rains made leased out a bunch of our nitrogen and it was starting to get pretty yellow, but it's it's greening up now. Starting to take off some pigs out on it. Um we could use a rain. Uh we've had some snotty rains in places, but for the most part, uh for the most part we're dry. So we could use a good rain shower in a lot of places. We've also um in the past couple weeks, uh we've had to hunt for them. Uh we've we have found cotton jason and uh some blooming cotton. Haven't found it in in any fields that are not blooming. Uh so that that tells me uh a little bit of something that maybe we can predict predict cotton jazz in in that in that matter. Overall, things are looking good, a little behind.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Yeah. Good deal. Seth, what about you, man?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

We're kind of in the same boat. I was actually looking at some of the weather data this morning. Uh, we only had 12.2 inches from January 1st to May the 20th. So we were super dry in April, so much so that you know, a lot of our guys, even in conventional systems, are pulling strip till units ahead of the planters. They're not tied together, but they're running them for deep tillage ahead of the planters. And we had some fields in this redland over here that were so dry you literally couldn't even get the shank of the strip till in. So we were delayed planting. Uh, but then from May 21st to yesterday, we had 13 inches of rain. So we had more rain in two months than we did the first six months of the year.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Um because of that, you know, I think we are a little bit behind. We've got a lot of cotton that's second, third week of bloom right now, but we got some that's just now starting to square. So uh it's been a tough year getting started, but I think overall, considering the heavy rains we have had, the crop looks pretty good. I think our attention has been pretty good on a lot of this crop. Um, so hopefully, you know, we can finish out the year and have some good weather to harvest it and you know, put it in a basket or put it in a round roll and get it to the gin.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yep, no kidding. We need us another. I know that acres overall have gone up. I was talking to a couple of ginners yesterday, and they we talked about how last year, you know, acres were down, but the crop was so good that they may have ginned the same amount or a little bit more, but maybe with acres picking up, we'll have us a good crop and and get some more stuff at the gin there. So um certainly a lot of good stuff. And so what what are some of the questions that you guys are getting around? And and we can

Weed Control Setbacks And Recovery

SPEAKER_02 7:33

kind of you know pitch some of that stuff back and forth. But what what are growers calling about right now? And and Seth, we'll start with you and work our way back over there towards the east side of the state.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

You know, early on we had so much weed control issues, you know, either guys had planted and didn't have a residual out or had gotten a residual and either had so much erosion or so much leaching rain that you know the herbicide program kind of fell apart on us there for a little bit. I was kind of surprised, you know, even with the Dicamba label back this year, most of my guys went back with Liberty instead of Dicamba. Um it's been kind of a challenge, but I've been impressed that we have cleaned most fields up pretty good. We still had to hand pull some big pig weeds that were coming out of the top of the crop, but you know, we're willing most years to do that regardless, trying to keep the fields fairly clean. Um, we had some really early planted cotton that late end of April, early part of May, ahead of the big grains that had some plant bugs in it early on. Uh, we had one or two fields that were sprayed one or two times up front, but uh retention looks pretty good in this last couple of weeks. So I think that so far our plant bug pressure this year here is lower than it was a year ago. So for that, I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah, no kidding. I I was talking to a consultant that that covers a little bit of your area, and he he was telling me the same thing. He said that plant bugs are lighter than normal, uh, which is certainly a good thing, and and then trying to trying to save a little bit of money there on the crop. So that that's certainly good and good to have a scout

Cotton Jassid Watch Without Panic

SPEAKER_02 9:10

out there looking for it. So um, Will, what about you, man? What are some of the questions that guys are calling with right now?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

I mean, I hate to be repetitive on the on the subject, but the the number one question has been uh, you know, what's what's the what's going on with cotton jasses? Where is it at? Do we need to be do we need to be looking for? Of course, the answer to that question is yes, we need to be looking for it, but we don't need uh we don't need to overlook our other insect pests as well. You know, and talking with uh some of the consultants in the county, uh you know, they're they're making sure they're doing that, they're still looking for everything, but they're looking for the looking for the conjunct as well. Um haven't really seen much stank blood pressure yet this year. Haven't really had anything come to threshold yet, even though I know we're still early. Don't believe we've had a field to be treated to be treated for stink bloods yet. Some other questions um we've had some different situations with uh some burn on cotton with some of that was uh some nitrogen burn. Um other than that, um not really sure what it what it could have been. We're putting five or six different things in the tank.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Could be any of them.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Not really sure what what could have been the problem, so it's just good to keep in mind on of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah. Yeah. You know, you start putting you start putting more than three things in the tank, you run that risk anytime, anytime you go over a field. But um, you know, one thing that happened last week, Will, that I think is kind of interesting. I got a a graduate student that that graduated in May. All of y'all know him, Lance. And so he uh he went back home to the farm and and this is the first time in I don't know, 15 years that they've planted cotton on their place. And and he was out looking for plant bugs and found a single jazz set on square and cotton. And to my knowledge, that's the only jazz that's been found on pre-bloom cotton in the country. But that's just one, just one jazzed is uh, again, nothing to press the panic button about, but something we got to keep in the back of our minds if we are making a trip over the field, uh, over a field of square and cotton for plant bugs, or if somebody made the decision to treat aphids, even though the the fungus has come in in most parts of the state and different stuff like that. So certain certainly something to keep in the back of your mind, but Will made a good point to not overlook anything else while we're looking for that. So Savannah.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

When we were in Denver, um, by the

Tank Mix Risks And Field Injury

SPEAKER_04 12:05

way, um we're pretty sure that we found some jazz out there.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Maybe not actual jazz because we we didn't have those identifying uh two dots. Uh-huh. Uh so definitely some plant hopper or leaf hoppers out there. But um as far as here, um obviously, and I I think we're in the situation we were in three or four years ago where we had a super young crop, and I being the ruminant nutritionist that I am, I think that encourages more deer pressure because you have a real young quality uh crop, and so we're back in the situation where we started throwing alarm bells pretty hard, I think, this year.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:45

Um, that's been a huge issue here. Um, another thing that I had more questions about this year than I have in the past is spider wort. Um and so we've been working pretty hard to get that cleaned up and kind of getting that figured out. Because in in the past we've had a little here and there, but it it's been more widespread this year for whatever reason. But the biggest thing right now has been that we will side dress and put out our potash, and then we'll get four, three, four inches of rain in 45 minutes. And so the biggest question that I've answered, you know, four and five times just in the last two weeks has been do I need to reapply? And so um that's been a a pretty hard situation with us. You know, we have a lot of really sandy, uh deep sand desoils here, and so that

Deer Pressure And Spiderwort Spreads

SPEAKER_04 13:40

can certainly we always have an issue with stemphilium from the get-go. So just trying to make sure that we've got everything out that we can um certainly is has been the priority this year.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah, you know, it it was interesting here around the station. We, you know, started side dressing, I don't know, probably a month ago or whatever it was, and it it started raining around here too, and we uh put put a hundred units of nitrogen on a on a dry land field and had 25 units of sulfur in it too. And and within you know two weeks, I think it was, we may have got five inches of rain or so. And I sent a picture to uh Dr. Harrison and he said, man, I'd bet a six-pack of beer that that's sulfur deficiency. I said, Man, there ain't no way it's sulfur deficiency. And he he was right, and so I went out and I had to put, you know, he recommends if you if you got some sulfur deficiency, 200 pounds ammonium sulfate go out. And of course, I was talking to uh Bill over there in uh Statesboro in Bullock County yesterday, and and we threw around some other stuff. You can get sulfur different ways, but that's one to one to keep in mind too. Just because your crop is yellow doesn't mean that it's nitrogen. It could be could be sulfur, could be potash, could be um carryover from herbicides, different stuff like that. So um certainly some stuff to be looking for, but don't overlook uh some of that sulfur

Heavy Rain And Reapplying Fertility

SPEAKER_02 15:08

just because I think it's more likely to leach than than some of this nitrogen is. But um a lot of good stuff, a lot of stuff to to keep in mind kind of while we're in the field. But um what what are some things that y'all are looking you know towards in the next couple of weeks that we need to keep on the forefront of our of our growers' minds, and and we'll kind of go back the other way, start with Savannah and go back. So things that we're looking at that are coming up in the next couple weeks, we need folks to keep in mind as we're we're in the field and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

So I guess the biggest thing is is continued scouting. So obviously this time within the next three weeks has been when we started seeing Jasset in um pretty high numbers uh in Emmanuel County. And then, but then also you do have your stink bugs. We don't traditionally have issues with plant bugs over here, but but that is certainly a concern to be to be looking for. As far as events, just don't forget Midville Field Day. I feel like I should put a plug in that. Uh so that is on August 12th this year, which is my birthday. So come hang out.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Hey, happy birthday. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

Come hang out with me for my birthday at Midville Field Day. We'd love to have you. That's a really good opportunity to find out what's going on in the crop right now. And so obviously, just just being out there and and seeing what's going on, I think, is a huge reminder that we can we can change the course of a lot of stuff if we know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Yeah. Well, what about you, man?

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah, I'd I would second

Yellow Cotton Could Be Sulfur

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Savannah need to be out there, need to be out there scouting. Um another thing that I'd be doing, I'd be as I'm scouting, I would be noting weak areas in the field and trying to figure out why those areas are weaker than than others. And uh it could be nematose, it could be a fertility problem, but going on now at the end of the season before you get that cotton out of the field is a a good time to to note that and try to go and figure out why before doing it in the wintertime.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it's uh that's a good point, Will, to to make a note of some of the weak spots. I mean, right now, trips across the field are happening right regular, whether it's with picks or if you're putting boron out or spraying stink bugs or whatever it might be.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

And that was that was gonna be my other thing, just being timely uh as we're out and uh checking to see what what the what PGR needs we we need out in the field. And uh you know, once we once we find something that triggers that threshold, being timely, getting in there and being timely to treat that.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yeah, yeah, whether it's PGR or Jasset or Stink Bug or you know, even putting your nitrogen out in a timely manner, right? Rick, you want that stuff out there before uh demand starts ramping up for that for nitrogen and sulfur. So I mean getting out there, being timely with a lot of this stuff helps prevent a lot of issues. But but kind of going back, you know, driving over the field, that's a great, great, great time to make notes of of weak spots in fields. And you know, if any of the four of us get a phone call, you know, in December about a weak spot in a field, it'll be really hard for any one of us to identify what exactly was happening. Because I mean, if it's if it's nematodes, right, and you pull a nematode sample in December, if you've had a good killing freeze, uh, you know, those things may not be there anymore and you may not be able to rely on the test. Or if it was, you know, let's just say jazzid, right? Well, it would it's hard to put a to do a uh what Dr. Roberts would call a post-mortem on an insect, right? If they're not there, then you don't know, or if it's a a fertility issue, you know, you don't see the the actively growing plant to see some of those symptoms. And you can pull a soil sample and and try to infer some of that, but you know, it's just tough to do whenever we get out of the growing season to identify some of those problems. So if anybody's out there and they see weak spots in a field and aren't a hundred percent sure what's causing it, man, give us give these agents or give give us a call, we'll come out there and we'll look and we'll we'll try to get an answer for you. But uh Seth, what about you? What are some of the things that you're looking looking towards over the next couple of weeks and

Scouting Priorities And Treating On Time

SPEAKER_02 19:50

and kind of trying to keep on the forefront of your growers' minds?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, right now it's kind of the the heat of the growing season. You know, obviously picks is a big deal right now. If you've got a heavier fruit load, you're probably not as quite as aggressive. But it seems like you know, we get to this point in the season and you start seeing compounding variables, you know, you get some plant bugs or some stink bugs or some other you know, insect pests, or maybe you know, some herbicide damage, and you shed some fruit, and then you start getting growth of plants that are trying to get away from you if you're not in there pretty quick with it. Um, so you know, I think just keeping your eyes on the crop, putting the shadow of a scout out there in the field is crucial this time of year. And then I'd like to re-emphasize, you know, I

Mark Weak Spots Before Season Ends

SPEAKER_00 20:36

think that a lot of the country has gotten away from a lay by rig, but right now is a really good time. You know, you may have curled back some weeds with a die-camba application or something, but you know, they're still under the canopy of that crop, and we need to go in there and nuke them while we can. Um, I'm starting to see a lot more nut sedge in certain fields, a lot more spider wart. So, you know, I think a lay by rig is the ultimate tool to get in there and hammer those while we've got the utilization of a tool that uh can help us both this year and next year. So keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Yeah, it's uh, you know, I I don't know if many growers remember picking cotton and having to unplug a pickerhead with spiderwort in it. You know, that just that ain't real fun. And and spider wart is like the bane of my existence, not just at work, but also at home. It's in my garden, and it's just like I can't plant nothing that I can't use dual or warrant or outlook or anything like that on because it's just the spider ward to get out of control in my garden, and that's serious business, you know. Serious business in the garden. So it's uh, you know, spider ward's a tough one, man, and and you're right, the the lay by rig is an incredible tool. We don't see them much anymore, but I will say I drove to uh

Layby Rigs For Late Weeds

SPEAKER_02 21:55

the Southern Cotton Growers and Jenner's meeting yesterday, and uh I saw a lay. By rig going in Barry and County. So shout out to uh Ben Reeves over there for doing the Lord's work. But you know, it's uh it's an incredible tool, man, and you can get all kinds of tank mixes in there to hit all this different stuff, like like a roundup, a roundup MSMA invoke, man, that would clean up a lot of problems with with grass and nuts edge and uh spider wart and different stuff like that. Of course, you can sub out any of those three depending on issues, whether it's diuron for your residual pigweed activity and different stuff like that. But man, there's just a lot of opportunity. And, you know, we got a we got a new gin manager this year, and he's been on the lay by rig the last couple weeks, and he he'll be honest with me about it. He says kind of like watching paint dry, you know, but and it is, it's a lot slower than what we're used to going in some of these big sprayers, but but man, in a long term, you know, you gotta think long term with some of these some of these weed issues and with stuff like spiderward or nuts edge, that's a perennial weed. And so the longer you leave it out there, the more it's contributing to issues the next year.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

So um Well that's that was one thing I was gonna say is just make note of what you're dealing with this year because we can make better decisions on what pre-emergence and some of these residual herbicides that we use to try to minimize some of that versus just going in what we always go with if if we're having different issues.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Right. Right. It's uh we can tailor a program to whatever the problem is, whatever the major pest problem is, whether whether it's a weed or an insect or nematodes or anything like that. I mean, we can really tailor a program to each individual field, but you know, and one more shameless plug.

Field Days Schedule And Closing Advice

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah we're at the experiment station up in Plains is gonna have a field day on August the 5th. Uh, I'm pretty sure, don't quote me on this, but I think we've got almost every commercially available cotton variety under the breakaway pivot right there by the office. Yeah so if you're interested in looking at a lot of different cotton varieties side by side, uh, you know, some of the new Thrive On varieties, some of the experimentals that aren't even commercially available yet, they'll all be right there for you to get a good look at.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna say they they do the same thing in in Midville, but man, that's a great opportunity to get a look at some stuff that's that's coming for next year, right? Or even two years down the line. So um there's a lot of opportunity to look at at some stuff that you may not have in your fields or may not have much experience with or and may not even be in like the on-farm variety trial program. So there's a lot of good opportunities. I'll make another shameless plug. You know, we got I already mentioned the meeting over in Statesboro July 29th. Excited about that. Always love uh seeing everybody, catching up, talking about the crop, but then the next day on July 30th is the field day in Atapulgas at the at the Atapulgas uh Research and Education Center down there in uh Decatur County. And so I'm gonna turn around from Statesboro on Wednesday and then drive down to Atapulgas on Thursday morning, and uh we're gonna we're gonna be down there talking about some of the work we're doing, and I know they've got a good good lineup of folks down there. Um and of course that'll that'll be kicking off, you know. I think I I was called yesterday, I was told I was the first stop. So I gotta be good and lively and energized uh for the Atapogus field day. So um certainly excited about entering uh field day time, getting out there, visiting with growers, uh, and hit hitting the hitting the pavement with some of you guys and seeing the agents around and anything like that. But um any other any other points of consideration or other things you guys want to discuss while we're on here? We're good. Got all the problems solved.

SPEAKER_04 26:04

Far from that. Far from that.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Yeah. So uh hey, I will say, man, I I did, you know, again that meeting July 29th, we're doing the quality awards, we're doing all this stuff. Bev uh Sylvester is coming from Cotton Incorporated to talk about improving uh demand for for cotton. Uh, and then it's it's plastic-free July, so I'm sure she's gonna be talking about microplastic contamination and things like that. But um I know that Dr. Taylor Singleton, myself, and and Dr. Roberts will be there talking about the current situation. Will, you know, if anybody wants to know what's going on with JASID, that that's the meeting to be at. And because last year we we introduced it, and then it was the next week that Dr. Roberts came and visited you down there. And so we uh we got a good lineup. I think we got a lot of good stuff to discuss while we're at that meeting, just the status of the crop, some of the things, and and Savannah, I've even got a few slides on deer. So we're gonna we're gonna touch on that a little bit and kind of the issues we've been having, and and I believe some of the progress that's been made. So excited about that. But you know, just last reminder some of those dates, July 29th over in Statesboro, July 30th in Atapogas, August 5th in Plains, and then August 12th in Midville. Okay, so just really, really good lineup back to back, uh, a lot of opportunities, a lot of opportunities to come here about what's going on in the crop, uh, you know, see everybody, visit, catch up, all that good stuff. But, you know, if there, if there isn't anything else, I'll wrap us up. And just if there's anything that you guys need, if there's something you see in the field you're not 100% sure about, give us a call. Uh, you know, call your local county agent and we'll we'll get something figured out for you. But we'll see y'all here at field days and meetings over the next couple weeks and we'll uh we'll record us another episode about that time. So thank y'all. 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.