Missouri Cotton News
August 2004

Delta Center Annual Field Day
The Annual Delta Center Field Day will be held on September 2 at the Lee farm east of Portageville. Tours will run from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The farm is located two miles south of Portageville and five miles east at the intersection of highways T and TT.

Cotton Variety Test Field Day
It will be held on September 14, 2004. The tour will be at the Lee Farm east of Portageville. The leading varieties and promising new varieties are represented in trials. We will observe the silt loam trial and the Roundup Ready trial. The Roundup Ready varieties can be observed where Roundup was used. A seed spacing trial sponsored by Cotton Inc. will also be toured. This will be followed by lunch. CCA credits will be applied for.

DD60’s and Cotman
Attached you will find the DD60’s for 2002, 2003, and this year in order to compare the total number. The present recommendation of the Cotman method of terminating insectcide application says the bolls are past injury by boll feeding insects when 350 DD60’s are reached after cutout, 5 nodes above white flower. The 350 DD60’s from cutout can be determined by checking the chart for the DD60’s of the cutout date. Subtract this number from the present number of DD60’s and this will yield the number of DD60’s received since cutout. Weather data can be found on our website at www.aes.missouri.edu/delta.

Hal Lewis Method
Research at the Delta Center over three years has shown that the Hal Lewis Method for determining defoliation is superior to 60% open, 4 nodes above cracked boll, and the Cotman method. The Delta Center will test these samples for $10.00 per sample in the soils lab. The Hal Lewis Method can be an excellent aid in scheduling harvest. The method doesn’t change the cost of defoliation it just changes the timing. At today’s low prices discounts of 4.25 to 6.25 cent per pound make it very important to control the micronaire. The Lewis method helps maximize lint yield and protect the quality.