Every cotton farmer is influenced by today's highly volatile input costs and cotton prices. Even as the International Cotton Advisory Committee projects an increase in U.S. planted area for this season and marginally higher prices, producers remain conservative.
But in today's tough economic climate, producers should think twice before they cut early season cotton inputs because what is cut early will have a direct effect on quality and yield at harvest.
Jim Covington of Floydada, Texas, is a prime example of someone who is reinstating the use of core early season inputs. He has both dryland and irrigated acres planted to FiberMax cotton.
"I used Temik for years and was always extremely happy with it, but it got to the point where I thought I needed to cut some expenses, and that was one of the things I thought I would try to cut out," Covington says. "So I didn't use it for five years."
During that period he had his seed treated with Orthene, which gave him only minimal thrips protection and no protection against nematodes.
"I have been extremely pleased since I went back to using Temik," Covington says. "It is just a superior product to anything else on the market. We have so much invested in the crop, I just don't think Temik is something I can justify cutting anymore. Now I shoot for three to four bales to the acre, which maximizes my yield and my production."
source : cottonfarming
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