Curtis Grissom, Limestone County Extension coordinator, calls it a "frustrating time for growers."

"Hot, dry weather beginning in mid-July really forced the cotton crop into early maturity," says Grissom. "Farmers had already begun picking their crop when these rains came."

"Cotton farmers who had already sprayed their fields with defoliants didn't want rainfall on those fields," says Charles Burmester, an Extension cotton agronomist at the Tennessee Regional Research and Extension Center in Belle Mina.

Defoliants remove leaves from the cotton plants, and this helps reduce the amount of trash taken in by the cotton picker.

But rain causes problems with previously defoliated cotton.

"You get cotton strung out of the bolls. You get cotton knocked out of the bolls to the ground, and you get mud stains on the cotton," says Grissom. "All of this has a negative effect on the quality and grade of the cotton."

Late rains often encourage cotton seed to germinate while still in the boll. The tiny seedlings die when they expend all the food stored in the seed. Gins can usually separate the seedlings from the fiber.

Regrowth is another problem. Burmester explains that defoliants remove existing leaves, but do not kill the cotton plant. If a defoliated plant gets rainfall and temperatures remain warm, the plant will begin to regrow.

"Regrowth can happen very rapidly, particularly on drought-stressed plants," says Burmester. "You get plants with mature bolls ready for harvest, sitting below a layer of new leaves and blooms.

That situation creates some tough issues for the farmer to tackle. Burmester says they must consider whether they can afford another pass of a defoliant, which costs about $6 to $7 an acre. The problem with another pass is that the new growth is very vigorous and defoliants may not be as effective.

But there are problems if a farmer opts to pick his cotton with new growth still on the plants.

"Those young leaves will stain the cotton as it's picked," says Burmester. "Green stain will have a serious impact on the price. Cotton gins are designed to remove seeds and trash. They can't do anything about stains."

Grissom is hopeful that many Limestone County cotton producers did not have too many acres already sprayed with defoliants when the recent rains struck.

"Late rains are a threat every year, and most producers try not to get too far ahead with their defoliating," says Grissom.

The 2002 season has been a tough one for the cotton producers of the Tennessee Valley.

"We have had every extreme this year," says Grissom. "Cold—wet—hot—dry. We have had them all."

An unseasonable cold front in May caused farmers problems, and then by mid-summer, hot, dry weather settled in the area for weeks.

"I think we had the second hottest summer in the past 15 years in terms of growing degrees," says Grissom. "Rain would have helped, but we didn't get that. As a result, we had a short crop that matured much earlier than normal."

Burmester agrees the crop has been under some type of stress all season.

"That's one reason so much of this cotton has had such a regrowth spurt after this rain. Temperatures were warm, and there was residual fertilizer in their root zones."

In early September, the Alabama Agricultural Statistic Service predicted a statewide yield of more than 650 pounds per acre. The 10-year yield average is 604 pounds per acre.

Tennessee Valley farmers had been hopeful of yields of 600 or more pounds per acre, but Burmester says the wet weather will drive those yields down.

"I think right now we're probably looking at closer to 500 pounds per acre for a lot of the Valley's cotton farmers."

(Sources: Curtis Grissom, Limestone County Extension Coordinator, 256-232-5510; Charles Burmester, Agronomist, Tennessee Valley Regional Research and Extension Center, 256-353-8702.)

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