When you look at cotton overall, the crop can be improved in a variety of ways. For some, adding irrigation to their crop production would be an improvement while others may find that being able to move from hand labor to mechanical labor is an improvement.

Another way to improve cotton production is to look for new cotton varieties — that would be the types of cotton seed people plant. Right now, if you look at the company I work for, Monsanto, which has a brand of cotton seed called Deltapine, we have plant breeders who focus on that type of improvement as do several other companies like Dow & Bayer. You also have public breeding programs within the university extension programs at places like Texas A&M and Louisiana State.

These plant breeders look at all the cotton varieties that are commercially sold around the US and those that grow natively around the world and think “what can we do to make a better cotton plant?” Then they work with all the varieties to help make pairings that may result in new combinations. Maybe the new combination they are looking for has better lint yield so the farmer harvests more cotton, maybe they want to make a current variety less susceptible to a disease that bugs bring into the field, or maybe they are looking to improve the quality of the cotton harvested so the fiber is longer and stronger which makes a better yarn.

All of these things are looked at scientifically, with detailed ratings systems that are used plant by plant. Any of those things would improve cotton varieties and be done through breeding & variety improvement.

Here is a video my office put together that explains some of the pepper variety development programs we have, the concept is the same for other crops, just different characteristics.

Thanks Larry

Writing about cotton genetics was a really good way for me to reflect on conversations I had with one of the cotton breeders I worked with at Deltapine what seems like forever ago. Larry Burdett had an incredible passion for the topic, he was an avid reader and loved the history of the crop, going so far as planting really old varieties of seed just to see it for himself — his nursery was the only place I’ve ever seen Sea Island cotton.

Sadly we are mourning his passing right now. But at least I feel I am smarter about cotton thanks to all my conversations in Arizona fields with him. This photo of him is from a morning in the field where he helped me understand his rating system for leaf smoothness / hairiness. You can see, he’s pulled a leaf off of the plant and is looking at the underside of the leaf. leaf hairs are interesting because they can present problems of contamination at times. How smooth or hairy a leaf is also has implications for how much some bugs will like the plant! Such seemingly little things make a big difference in cotton!

(Part of this answer was drafted in response to the question What is cotton variety improvement (in simpleton explanation)? being asked on Quora. Like everything on my blog, I wrote this out of personal interest, not any business reason for my employer.) 

The post Cotton 101: What is cotton variety improvement? appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

On of the things that farmers have to worry about is whether or not their crops are going to fully mature. And while I think more than a few people can be watched closely for the same reason, with crops, it is a bit different. In order to harvest a crop, farmers want to be able to take action at peak maturity. If they harvest too early, they will miss harvesting some and if farmers wait too late, they risk reductions in quality and potentially yield. And while each crop differs in how you determine maturity and estimate harvest dates, cotton shows you a few ways to

So how do they do it?

These photos from cotton farmers Kelly & John Whatley in South Texas will show at least part of it. Take a look at Kelly’s Instagram account and you’ll see more recent photos — they are harvesting some fields now!

Well first, farmers pay close attention to the plants. They know what plants look like when they have a lot of growing left to do by looking at how close to the top the white flowers are. As the flowers turn to bolls, there are other things to look for with cotton fields.

With a good load of hard bolls, the changes in coloring on the plant is a sign that the plants are beginning to dry down.

Farmers will pull hard bolls and cut them open to get a good feel for how close the plant is getting to maturity.

When a farmer looks at the cut open boll, there are a few things they are looking for…. one is how wet the lint inside the boll is but it is also important to look at the seed that is developing inside the boll. In fact, the seed is the most important factor in determining maturity!  Without the seed maturing to for the embryo to firm up (otherwise it is a bit like jelly) and developing a good seed coat, you don’t want to harvest. Harvesting an immature crop reduces the quality of the product and makes it harder to use the fiber for clothes, etc.

Of course, once bolls begin popping open, there is no question! That cotton is ready to be harvested but farmers in the US will wait for most of the plant to be ready to harvest so cotton pickers can roll. In countries where people pick the crop, they sometimes pick as bolls open going through the field a few times. 

Related articles

• Farmers are Planning For Cotton Harvest as They Plant Cotton
• Cotton 101 Video: Field Nearing Harvest & Importance of Defoliation
• Cotton Plant 101: What do a cotton plant, blooms & bolls look like? VIDEO
• Cotton 101 Video: Impacts of Rain on Cotton During #Harvest12

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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?

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