There is nothing else like it for me….. seeing cotton fields at sunset is totally unique. The softness of the colors of the sky and the soft textures of fiber tufting out from the rough and rugged plants is captivating.

And after a decade or so of having that out my office window and on my daily drive, it is something that truly does call me home. Over the years, if you follow this blog, you have seen more than a few photos of cotton bolls and cotton pickers. Since my move to St. Louis five years ago, I have found myself stopping along the roads between here and Memphis on weekend evenings trying to capture the light.

It may surprise you though that it has been years since I took my spot in the buddy seat of a cotton picker. This year, my trip to Texas so close to cotton harvest convinced me I simply couldn’t go any longer without seeing harvest up close so I took a few days off work to my head back into my favorite crop at the most beautiful time of year.

Starting with Missouri bootheel cotton on Thursday and checking out some Mississippi crops Friday and Saturday was just what the doctor ordered!

I’ll give you a look at a few of the I snapped as I started my harvest weekend in this post and will then have several more posts to explain some of the photos and share more photos in the coming weeks!

These striking cotton harvest photos were all taken on Charles Parker’s farm in the Missouri Bootheel.  Appreciate his son-in-law Alan pointing me to the perfect field to capture the sunset!

If you have any questions after looking at these photos, please don’t hesitate to ask! I’ll be writing more!

The post Capturing the Light of Cotton Fields at Sunset — Photo Post appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

This weekend, I drove to Memphis to visit family and eat awesome barbecue. And on both my drive down and drive back home to St. Louis, I got distracted by the cotton fields along the highway…. and yes, I had to stop! I mean really. Stopping in random cotton fields to see what’s happening that I may be able to share with others…. it’s a #cottongeek’s dream. and I even shot some video which is perfect since YouTube is hosting geek week! And it’s great to have a new post in my cotton 101 series!

So, in this video, I show you how cotton breeders make the cross-pollination that ultimately lead to new cotton varieties. Now let me put a disclaimer here… this is just a glimpse at some of the tactics. The real know-how is deciding what parents to use, what traits to screen for, how to test to determine the varieties viability, etc… but this is something that helps you understand how cotton flowers work.

This is what we call a candlestick on a cotton plant. The bud that will produce a beautiful white bloom the following day.

If someone like me doesn’t mess with the bud, the next day it will open up and be a beautiful cream color. The flower has both male and female parts so it can pollinate itself. On this flower, you can see it actually has begun to get a little pink. That means it has been pollinated!

By the next day, the cotton bloom will turn a beautifully rich pink!

BUT cotton breeders find candlesticks the morning before they open and emasculate them. That means they pull off all the male parts — lots of little pollen sacks that will burst open in the afternoon (you can see some on my fingernails LOL). By pulling those off, they leave the female parts which will be ready to be pollinated in the afternoon. That’s when they come back with an open bloom from the other parent plant and put the pollen on!

Hope you liked the video & photos! What do you think about cotton blooms? I think they are gorgeous! They do make me happy!

The post Cotton 101 Video: How to Cross Pollinate Two Cotton Plants 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.

The cotton crop is nearing harvest and as you can see this field is no longer putting on flowers, the leaves are turning brown and maroon and beginning to drop and more bolls are opening. The field is in Hayti, Missouri.

Unlike the video I shared recently that showed blooms at the top of the plant, this field has stopped putting on new flowers and is focused on opening the remaining immature bolls. Another thing you can see has changed in the crop is the leaves are browning (kind of marooning really). This leads to defoliation and can happen naturally as frost hits or farmers can use crop protection products that encourage defoliation earlier than naturally would occur.

One reason this is important is if the mechanical picker were to go through the field with healthy green leaves, the plant would end up staining the fiber which would lead to a reduction in quality. After all, mills would need to bleach the fiber or something to get out the “grass stain” that would be on the lint before it even went to the gin. And the problem would just keep getting worse as the bales went to be spun into yarn or woven/kit into textiles.

Knowing this, cotton is graded based on color and the amount of foreign matter in the lint after its been ginned. Those grades are a key part of determining the price a farmer receives per pound.

The post Cotton 101 Video: Field Nearing Harvest & Importance of Defoliation appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

This weekend I drove down to Memphis and have to admit, I really enjoyed the fact I wasn’t on a tight deadline! I did well getting on the road early and made great time, well, that is until I reached the part of Missouri that is part of the Cotton Belt. Yes, I moved a lot slower once I got to the Missouri Bootheel!

I was able to resist the urge to check the cotton crop up close for a few exits, but by the time I reached Hayti, it was clear. I HAD TO STOP. Now I could attribute this need to stop to the fact I was sure that some of my blog peeps (ie you) would like to see what the cotton and corn crops look like in the south, but really, it is also because I just wanted to see some cotton myself!

I will let the video do most of the talking….

As you can see, the cotton crop is up and it is growing well. For growth stages of cotton before it starts putting on blooms, we usually talk about the number of true leaves or fruiting branches the plants have. I saw plants that ranged from 4-6 true leaves in this field, but others were 8-12 true leaves.

Although glyphosate-resistant pigweed used to be a massive problem in this area, farmers here have made great progress in controlling the weed through a program approach and that is reducing the seed bank. The fields I saw along the highways were much cleaner than a couple of years ago.

Corn is looking good too. I saw some great looking fields but it was clear that irrigation is making a big difference this year. It has been a really weird spring. It has been drier than normal but more importantly, it has been really hot too! The combination is taking its toll on farm fields across the US and the corner of this corn field shows it.

Cotton can weather the environmental conditions a little bit better but it still needs some moisture.

What questions do you have about these crops?

The post Cotton & Corn Crop Conditions this Week – Video 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.