Last week I took several vacation days and while I found lots of time to see some brand new sights in New Mexico that left me at a loss for words, I also saw something so familiar…. something I hadn’t really see much of. I saw a few fields of cotton. With my schedule this summer, I’ve mostly missed the 2016 cotton crop and it sure doesn’t show up here much!

But while I was visiting my friend Jay Hill (check him out on Instagram and Snapchat) who grows a wide range of vegetables as well as has a few beef cattle, a bit of corn…. he also is planting his first cotton crop! He was nice enough to make a drive by several cotton fields, his and some of the other farmers in that area. It was beautiful too!

That combined with this photo from Bill/killemducks on Instagram showing what a lightning strike did to his cotton field last weekend made me wonder how everyone else’s crop is. Having been in a lot of cotton fields over the years, I immediately recognized lightning damage… amazing how fast the cotton in that area is fried crisp!

I asked some friends to give me a quick update on their farms. Right now it is hot across most of the South, well and the Midwest too!

North Alabama Cotton 2016

Sam Spruell is a cotton farmer in North Alabama. And he thinks he may have the only furrow irrigated cotton (this means water is piped in on one end of the field) in Alabama. At least he doesn’t know of any more in the area.

“It’s only 50 acres but it sure is nice,” Sam says. “We started watering cotton last week will put out 1.5 inches per week till we start getting bolls then up it to 2 inches per week till it’s finished. It has been dry in my part of Alabama but some areas have gotten spotty showers. It is much easier to catch up with furrow than our pivots.”

Texas High Plains 2016 Cotton

Long-time friend Barry Evans farms in Kress, Texas, up on the High Plains between Lubbock and Amarillo. For several years Barry has been working on was to conserve both soil and water — the wind and high temps are really challenging out there.

He sent two photos of his cotton planted in a way that is really conservation-minded.

Barry explains:  “This is cotton no tilled into wheat stubble. Irrigating in LEPA  (low energy, precision application) which is over 95% efficient. The stubble acts as a mulch to reduce evaporation, making every drop count. Also applying nitrogen fertilizer through the pivot, spoon feeding the crop only as it needs it.”

South Texas Cotton

Friends John & Kelly Whatley are on the earliest end of Texas… where the US cotton crop frequently has the first bale of the year — yet to see for 2016 cotton.

Kelly says, “We are defoliating in the Coastal Bend area of South Texas. The crop looks really good at this point. We had good spring moisture plus some rain in late May/early June to finish out the bolls. Crossing fingers the fiber turns out off the plant and in the gin as good as it looks on the plant.”

Kelly sent some great photos…. love seeing cotton getting ready for harvest! Makes me ready to get into a cotton picker.

California 2016 Cotton Crop

Out in California, my friend Cannon Michael (remember that time I went pheasant hunting on his farm?) is growing a bit more Pima cotton than usual. With the weather in California, he can take advantage of those long days to make longer stronger fiber. He says the crop looks really good and points out that all the Pima he planted this year is “going to www.pimacott.com program. Sheets in Costco now. Bed bath & Beyond next.”

I love how different the plants look… the flowers sure look a lot like their relatives the hibiscus! Unlike Texas…. California still has a ways to go! “We are still irrigating and won’t shutoff for another month probably. Harvest looks like first week in October.”

A Quick Cotton Tour

So there you go… a quick glance at the cotton crop across several states this week! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I have.

The post The 2016 Cotton Crop: A Photo Tour of Several States 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.

The phrase “walkin’ in high cotton” is one I’ve heard for a long time, but I’m thinking it may have been country music band Alabama that raised the visibility of the phrase “High Cotton” to a place where lots of people heard it. But I’m not sure everyone knows some of the ways it can connect to farming cotton.

It seems generally accepted that high cotton is a good thing and usually has a financial component. And if you watch the video with Alabama, you can see the smiles and hear all the things that were great in the town where they grew up. (By the way, did I miss the cotton fields in that video? If you catch it let me know.)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhsbhbnKoR0]

I’ve always assumed the phrase started in the South a long time ago when tall cotton plants were seen as healthiest, highly productive, etc.  The cash earned of of a crop like that would be the sort that could have helped you through a leaner time too.

HIGH COTTON noun (also TALL COTTON) [1930s and still in use] (originally U.S. Black) The good life, the materially successful life. [the wealth that comes from a high cotton crop]

Tall or high cotton would be great for handpicking (and in some countries they continue to push for tall, bushy-type plants). That way as people pick the crop by hand, the physical exertion of bending down & straightening back up is lessened. The bushy type also provides greater access during harvest.

However, today, in the US, farmers look for ways to get the plants to grow in the optimum range. Farmers are able to better manage the inputs into the crop so they focus the growth on fruit (flowers first then bolls) rather than plant height. In general, more compact plants  are easier to run through the cotton picker. I’ve seen plants get away from farmers at times where a plant can be run through the mechanical cotton picker quickly and easily.

What references to High Cotton come to mind for you?

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