This time of year, cotton plants start holding a special kind of allure…. there are lots of beautiful blooms and farmers are getting a good feel for what harvest will bring! And aerial cotton photos especially grab my imagination!

My dear friend Marjory and her colleague Lance couldn’t stay in the office any more and they got out on  her family’s Walker Farms and started snapping photos. When I saw some of the photos, I had to ask if I could share them! She said sure and sent along a little message:

The cotton crop on Walker Farms is progressing nicely,  about ten days away from cut out.  Cut out, for those not familiar with the term, is when the plant reaches maturity (economic maturity) for most bolls not to be harmed by pests. (Editor’s note:  I included cut-out in my cotton dictionary too.)

The next step is for the plant to continue maturing, bolls will speckle, fiber matures and in approximately three – four weeks, the plant will be defoliated (leaves removed) for harvest. Currently, we are irrigating due to the lack of rain.

In-Crop Photos

Here’s a photo looking at the crop from the turnrow (the edge of the field where tractors and all turn to go down the next rows).

And then Lance moved in closer.

See how beautiful the cotton crop is when it is in bloom?

Aerial Cotton Shots

Lance also snagged some shots with a drone getting the Walkers a great set of aerial cotton shots that we had to share.

In this first one you can see how roads, trees and grassways all border the field…. and if you look closely, you can see the cars at the turn in for the field!

Taken from the other direction, you can’t help but notice how much better the crop’s color is and you see the corn field across the road to the right. And I have to say you see some uneven spots in the field where plants faced some challenges… my guess is that is where some water stood early in the season.

Don’t the photos just grab your imagination? Who wants to make a harvest trip with me in the next couple of months? Not sure what you’d be getting into? Check out these photos from cotton harvest and learn more about cotton generally.

The post Love These Aerial Cotton Photos of Tennessee’s Walker Farms appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

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.

About a month ago, I was all excited.  Planters were rolling in the Mid-South and I could smell the soil.  We had had several hot days in the Mid-South and I was ready to get to planting cotton. Like cotton farmers in the area, I knew it was still too early.  But I saw strawberries up, some corn beginning to swirl and I was excited about spring.  Now I’m a bit more exasperated than excited and can only imagine what it would be like if I have a crop riding on this weather.

To put it bluntly, this spring sucks. It sucks bigtime here anyway.

I’ve celebrated the planting progress in several areas, but here at home… well, here I’m worried.  I was getting worried when friends had several feet of water rush over their farms.  Seeing it first hand was unbelieveable and a post will be going up on the company blog soon detailing that. (Permanent link to the blog post added later.)

But over the weekend, I attended my niece’s college graduation (she totally rocks by the way). I bemoaned the heat a bit. Well into the 90s and walking around college campuses will tend to do that to a person.  But maybe I lost perspective for a minute.  Because Sunday evening as I landed back in Memphis and felt a chilly 60 degrees while the sun was up, I also restored my cotton legs and got worried.  That’s too cool for us to get a cotton crop off to a good start.

And while the rain on the window sill is frequently a welcome sign for farmers, today I awoke to the sound with a sense of dread. Can we please catch a break?  Judging from the view out my window, a lot of ground is sitting there (and some still seems to be underwater further from the flight path).  Farmers are trying to consider lots of new factors and get crops in the ground here in West Tennessee.  I’d appreciate a break. I promise to help some folks manage the complaints about the heat — I for one won’t complain again for a while.  Can’t help but wonder if bad juju got in the way.  For that, I apologize to the farmers here in my part of the world.

The post Looking for a Break for Spring Planting in West Tennessee appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Nothing like getting out in the field with a kid — whether they are from the city or farm.  You suddenly realize how cool it is to know even the slightest things about farming.  And luckily my nieces & nephews have always been up for a stop along the road and some ag education.

Yesterday as we drove out to a friend’s for a Halloween hayride, I spotted the first cotton field ready for harvest.  By the time I pointed and said look, my 7 year old niece screamed with delight “it’s cotton!”  She proceeded to point from one side of the highway to the other doing shout outs. With that sort of enthusiasm I HAD to ask if she wanted to stop.  (I asked because she was “starving to death” and dinner awaited us when we arrived at our friend’s house.)

She greeted the question with gusto and as we pulled onto the turnrow, I asked why don’t we get out for a couple of minutes?  We had to!  I said we could pick a few bolls, and my niece reminded me I had taught her a little about ag cause she asked me if I knew the farmer, saying she didn’t want to get in trouble.  Love that she understands and I assured her I know a lot of the farmers there and thought all of them would be okay with us picking a few handfuls.  I caught part of what happened on video and while I was far too caught up in her enthusiasm, I want to share it with you.

And yes, we may just have to get back out next weekend if it dries enough for pickers to run… imagine how much she’d enjoy the buddy seat and seeing modules made!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTgmFBA4SM&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]

By the way, she had a great time on the hayride too!  AND she got a whole big thing filled with candy.  WHAT A DAY!

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