A week  ago, I was driving to Memphis for the weekend and the drama of a bright, rich sunset with the rain lured me off my path. I took the chance to get off the interstate, and snapped a few photos in a couple of different places before finding a cotton farm at the perfect point of light. I snapped loads of photos and video on both my iPhone and my DSLR. I had to share a few pics from my phone immediately… this one grabbed me.

While some of my friends agreed that was a beautiful sight to behold, they weren’t as familiar with some of the other thoughts running through my mind as I stood in the light rain snapping photos. Knowing water was pooling up but could drain off that Delta field, but also wondering what the weather would be like for the next several days.

I turned to my cotton expert friends to ask them whether there are good and bad rains. A quick message thread on Facebook made it possible for me to check in with a few growing regions. I’ll put some of the photos I took that evening (no filters or editing!) along side the comments my friends had.

My friend Marjory Walker said her husband Bob (some of you may remember him giving my niece a first look at a cotton farm in Tennessee). She told me:

Bob says a slow and gentle rain over night, about 3/4 to an inch is usually a good rain. But it varies. Three inches in 15 minutes, a hard pounding rain, is usually a bad one.

A few hours south, Shea Whitfield in the Delta weighed in, looking a bit later into the season too: 

I will agree with what Marjory said. Also will add that once the cotton starts putting on fruit (editor’s note:  fruit is blooms, squares and bolls — the parts of the plant that will produce cotton lint later) the cloudy conditions that come along with the rain can be very detrimental by causing the plant to shed fruit. Also if we have been dry for quite a while a rain can jump-start the plant vegetatively and cause it to shed. So to answer your question sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad.

When Shea looked at the panoramic photo above, he added:

Makes me think you need to get the planter back out if it was just planted and it sandy ground. Hard packing rain makes it tough for a little cotton plant to come up.

He couldn’t make out that this field had a good stand of cotton already but the other pictures here make that clear. Even without seeing these pics, challenges for seedlings came to mind.

My friend Barry farms on the High Plains of Texas. He hasn’t been seeing the regular rains the Mid-South has had so he has a bit of a different perspective.

The rains we have had the last couple of weeks looks a lot like this, and the cool wet weather has caused some seedling disease and loss of some fields. On the other hand, without rain, NOTHING grows. After the drought we have been through in west Texas, all rain is welcome.

And further west, in Arizona, Kevin Rogers is used to having to irrigate cotton to get it growing. He said:

If the rain hits after its watered up we are ok as long as it doesn’t pond up. If we get a rain before we get germination and a crust forms on the soil and we can’t keep it wet we will have to replant. Agree with all the comments! We also don’t want a heavy rain when the plant is opening up as we get close to harvest.

There’s another post on the site about how damaging rain is on cotton at harvest.
In the days since, we’ve had more rain and cooler temperatures. That’s not exactly cotton weather. It loves a drink now and then but otherwise cotton plants prefer it hot and drier. I hope we get some perfect cotton growing weather soon!

The post How does a big rain impact a cotton farm early in the season? appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Recently I was astounded by the amount of agnerdness that took over my Twitter & Goggle Plus streams as friends with the Auburn University Extension Service started sharing photos of a cotton agronomist using Google Glass to scout a cotton crop. Yes, it was Google Glass on the farm! 

Here’s one of the photos that John Fulton (Google+ and @fultop) shared of agronomist Greg Pate. 

And Jim Langcuster (Google+ and @extensionguy) also snapped photos…. I especially like this one of Greg looking at the various fruiting positions on a cotton plant! I wonder if he could use those to record a series of photos and videos like the one on my what does a cotton plant look like post?

Jim wrote a great article on the Google Glass cotton farm demo saying “farmers place a high premium on mobility — namely, the ability to communicate and to upload and download digital information on their mobile devices while their hands are free to conduct all manner of essential business on the farm, whether it’s crop scouting, repairing an irrigation system or calibrating a sprayer.”

The post Google Glass On The Farm? Extreme AgNerds Scout Cotton appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

This fall, while in Kansas for the State of Now, I took the backroads from Hutchison toward the part of northwestern Oklahoma I called home for four years while I was in college. When I was driving through an “s” curve, I saw this sign and had to stop — yes, the cotton logo had demanded my attention! I thought I’d quickly snap a photo or two and get back on the road, but then a loaded truck came by and I realized the cotton gin was incredibly close. Just felt like I had to stop! Here are the photos I snapped and some of the things I saw that afternoon.

Driving down the road, I saw this sign & had to stop — Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative

A module truck drove by as I took the photo of the coop’s sign… I knew the gin had to be close by so I followed it! I went into the office while the driver had the module weighed in.

Self-portrait (that’s me Janice Person) at a cotton cooperative, modules in the background. It was a really windy day!

a cotton module (tightly compacted seed cotton straight from the field) enters the gin, and first step is it is pulled apart

These are the gin stands — the equipment that will separate cotton lint from cotton seeds

Closeup of the part of the gin stand that separates lint from seed — those are really small saws that pull the lint through

Cotton gin control panel

This is the bale press — the piece of equipment that compacts cotton lint into a bale for storage & transport for use in textiles

The gin’s mechanic was working on equipment and was nice enough to stop and visit for a few minutes. The coop has two gins that they alternated running this season. He keeps things in good mechanical order. Months later, I mentioned meeting him and found out that he has sent his kids to some of the most elite universities in the US based on his hard work in the cotton industry. Love that!

cotton bales ready for shipping

every bale of cotton in the US gets a permanent bale tag that stays with it from gin to fabric

Cottonseed, gin trash, etc are placed outside the gin until its sold by the truck load.

Related articles

• Eli Whitney would have been proud! – Eloy, AZ
• 2012 cotton crop remembered as record-breaking, heart-breaking
• The 12 Days of Cotton – My Christmas Homage to My Favorite Natural Fiber

The post Cotton Gin in Kansas Made Me Pump My Brakes appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I love seeing a cotton field near harvest time and I’m afraid this may be the last set of photos I get to capture this year during picking time. Late in the afternoon and into the early evening there is a kind of light that grabs my attention and makes me hit the brakes no matter what I should be doing. I hope you enjoy the photos and that you get a moment’s wonder thinking this is where your favorite jeans, hoodie or concert shirt got it’s start.

I should have gotten photos taken when someone else was around or I should have put a tri-pod in the car because balance the camera on my car, on a jacket didn’t give me too many options for a self-portrait. And the wind was pretty strong and cool (especially without the jacket!). Add to that the drought kept this crop pretty short and well, I love cotton far more than I love the results of my self-portrait exercise. This one is ok even if I’m not smiling.

Related articles

• Cotton Plant 101: What do a cotton plant, blooms & bolls look like? VIDEO
• Cotton 101 Video: Impacts of Rain on Cotton During #Harvest12
• Area cotton farmers talk about this year’s crop

The post Cotton – Maybe My Last Photos of a Harvest Ready Field in 2012 (Day 6) appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Saw this video floating around and have to admit, it left me wordless. I see a few familiar faces (after all the cotton industry is pretty small). But somehow, I didn’t know anything about this video til this week! And it was shown at a meeting SIX MONTHS AGO!

Great video that shows cotton from the farm to the runway! Are you wearing Texas cotton? I LOVE IT! Have LOTS of blue jeans to show for it too!

Texas Cotton Association from Studio 84 Productions on Vimeo.

The post Cotton Is Life in Texas — Cotton Farmers Tell Their Story VIDEO appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

As you may have seen, I am asking various people who love cotton to guest post for the blog. Today’s photos were meant to be a wordless Wednesday post  but I turned a bit more wordy. Ooops! The photos were sent by farmer Travis Fugitt (@TFugitt on Twitter) who knows this is my first planting season in a very long time where I don’t have cotton going in the ground within a few miles of my home. He has been nice enough to share the excitement of planting season through sending me photos via both Twitter and Facebook. There is always something happening on Travis’ Bakersfield, CA area farm as they grow quite a few crops. This year he’s growing corn, safflower, cotton, alfalfa, carrots, cabbage, onions, sweet corn, blackeyed peas, garbanzo beans, garlic, wheat, oats and milo. I hope you enjoy Travis’ photos and that my captions and text help explain what he’s sharing!

The 2012 cotton crop of Deltapine cotton is being planted today (April 6) in sunny CA!! This is the view Travis sees when he looks out the rear window of the tractor’s cab at the planter. 

Looking out the windshield, Travis is showing us he’s using a 6 row planter — you can see he’s already planted rows on either side of him. The planter makes a small cut into the soil places the seed & presses the soil together. 

Seeing the field from the driver’s seat was awesome…. also appreciate that Travis took time to share the fact he was planting the brand of seed I’ve worked with since 1996 — Deltapine! Here are photos of the bags he was planting.

Deltapine Cotton Seed – “Dedicated to cotton, committed to you. We bring innovation and proven high performance to every cotton seed you plant. Cotton is our heritage. Peace of mind is the result. No other brand is so deeply committed to farmers and the future of cotton.”

The end of the seed bag contains a lot of information for farmers to refer to. Among the information you can see is the variety he’s planting (this is an experimental variety that contains the proven traits of Bollgard 2 and Roundup Ready Flex traits to help manage insect & weed pests), the lot number, when & where it was produced & quality tested as well as the number of seed per pound & bag. 

He even took time to share what a pretty cotton harvest they had last season with this photo from December 2011.

December 2011 cotton harvest

Learn more about planting cotton from these Cotton 101 posts:

• Cotton 101: Planting Considerations
• Cotton 101: Things Farmers Think Through in Selecting Cotton Varieties
• Cotton 101: What does a cotton plant or field look like?

The post Planting Cotton in California appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I never expected to see a cotton plant in the wild on Hawaii’s Big Island. And my friend Marsha actually saw it first. We thought it was a mirage for a while but we really did see a cotton plant on Hawaii’s Big Island! I was so excited that I couldn’t take photos quick enough! And of course, I had to ask Marsha to take a photo of me with the cotton plant too! And the photo of a cotton plant with the ocean in the background shows you how beautiful the location was here. If you are on the Big Island anytime and wonder about cotton, you may want to go by Lapakahi State Historical Park and visit the one lonely plant. Its an interesting park, a gorgeous view and my favorite fiber all in one!

And you can learn more about cotton from my Cotton 101 page!

The post Look What I Found Growing On Hawaii’s Big Island! Yep! COTTON! :) appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Kelly Whatley’s sons in the South Texas cotton at harvest time

South Texas cotton picking by Kelly Whatley

This photo grabbed me late last week…  My friend Kelly Whatley (Twitter, Blog, Google+) lives in the Corpus Christi area and like so many of us, has a tradition of taking cotton harvest pictures, especially if there is a field or two that make you proud. South Texas always gets the first bale in and it’s clear that they will again. Driving around in the Mid-South, I’ve seen variable crop conditions and this photo made me wonder when I may be able to see something here closer to home…. so I sent out a social media call. And as Kelly’s husband torqued up the pickers to roll, other cotton farmers sent me some photos from their farms!

So who replied?

Mississippi Delta

Last year at the AgChat Foundation Conference, I met some awesome folks. Was thrilled to find several cotton peeps in the mix! That’s how I got to know Shea Whitfield. Really kind of funny since I lived in the Mississippi Delta for a dozen years and had been through his hometown many times. And yes, since he’s from the world catfish festival…. I frequently ate farm-raised catfish while in town. Shea sent me this photo that a friend had taken…. a beautiful photo that shows the crop is loading up with fruit! (If you don’t know much about cotton blooms, you may enjoy this photo post about the way cotton looks in season.)

Rainbow over a Mississippi Delta cotton field by Keith Killebrew

Southern Alabama

I can’t give my girl Jillian Estess (Twitter, blog) enough props! She replied to my request with a bunch of photos — one even included her new hubby Jared up to his neck in cotton! She took the time to get photos of several different fields and make sure I could see the effects of this erractic weather and the scattered planting dates. Jared & Jillian are a couple of years into cotton production and with the weather challenges of this year, I bet the conservation programs they have have already paid off big time. Many of their fields are planted into oat or rye stubble. In a rainy spring, conservation tillage can help drainage while at the same time provide greater water holding capacity in-season when drought hits. All of the photos Jillian sent are from Cottonwood, Alabama.

Some cotton still in the four true-leaf stage  in Jillian & Jared’s FloriBama fields

some of Jillian & Jared’s “better looking cotton” that is planted in rolled cover (rye)

tallest cotton we have (needs to be pixed!!) Squared and flowering

Georgia’s Dooly County

One of my Twitter friends, @cottonfarmer Gene Roney regularly shares photos of what’s happening at his farm in South Georgia…. well, from the looks of things, a bunch of cotton is growing strong.

South Georgia cotton field

My home state of Tennessee!!!

And how could this be finished without checking in with my peeps locally! The crop here is in full bloom in many places and cutting out in some. (One of these days I should get that cotton dictionary up huh?) So far, some farmers are feeling okay about the potential here in Tennessee, kind of surprising knowing so much went in the ground so late! Just look at how many squares, blooms and young bolls you see on the closeup.

[slideshow]

The post Current State of the 2011 US Cotton Crop in Photos appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Last week I was busily going about things & checked in on Twitter and somehow, almost miraculously I caught two tweets about Tennessee cotton. It was awesome!

First came this one from Shane Kinne with the photo at right.

Touring a #cotton gin in TN. New territory for this north MO farm boy. #agchat https://t.co/cj3BoIo

— Shane Kinne (@ShaneKinne) May 9, 2011

Shane was down to learn about a cotton gin and although some may wonder what can be learned by visiting a gin in the off-season, I have to tell you it may be the only way to hear from a ginner!

In the peak part of ginning season, ginners are incredibly busy and the equipment is incredibly loud too. You can see some of what Shane saw here in a past post. 

Later, my good friend Tracey Sullivan aka @aggal77 sent:

Planting #cotton -Thinkin of MO farmers whose landscape & livelihood changed 4ever w/ flood #plant11 https://yfrog.com/h8my9lsyj

— Tracey Sullivan (@aggal77) May 10, 2011

With all the flooding we’ve had in our region, seeing a tractor pull a planter is an incredible thing! Of course now, we have degrees in the 50s and cotton likes that less than even I do! (And I’m complaining BIG TIME!)  Young cotton seedlings and I will all be excited to see warmer weather later this week. I am sure I’ll come through relatively unscathed, hope we will be able to say the same for the cotton crop!

It’s amazing how a photo (or in this case two) from friends can put a smile on my face! I may just have to do these more often!

The post Tennessee Cotton Photos from Friends appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I love getting photos from friends when they see something cottony and think of me! Not only do I love the fact they think of me when they see cotton, I almost always get to talk more about the fluffy white gold!

The latest photos come from my friend the ranch hand Ryan Goodman (Twitter, Ag Proud blog, Sitting in the Pasture blog). While I’m sure like all good ranch hand’s Ryan has lots of tough cotton clothes maybe by Carhartt or something, this was something different. He saw the sight and tweeted me “Hey @JPlovesCOTTON I found some #cotton in our cattle feed barn!”

Here are the photos:

For those of you who may wonder, that is cottonseed hulls from the gin. (You may find this Cotton 101 post of interest as it is related to ginning.)  Since Ryan “found” it on the ranch, I’d be willing to bet which of the uses that seed is for – which would you guess?

As a hint, you could read this post by Kathy Swift and look at this other photo Ryan took!!!  Have you ever seen cottonseed? Ever try to pull the lint off.

If you’d like more resources on what livestock eat, check out these blogs:

• California rancher Jeff Fowle’s CommonSenseAgriculture posts on It’s more than corn: Balanced Diet & Nutrition, Digestibility & Energy, Minerals & Vitamins, Importance of Physiological Stages, Feeds,  and a post on Force Feeding Cattle: Grass-Fed vs Grain-Fed
• Kathy Swift, DVM’s CowArtAndMore blog
• RayLinDairy’s post What do Cows Eat?

The post Cotton Found on the Ranch! — Friend’s Photos appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.