About 1000 acres of cotton are in the process of being defoliated this week in Hyde and Beaufort counties. We are starting off with a combination of Finish and Dropp (or generic). A lot of growers have migrated towards Finish in the last couple of seasons. At 1 qt/acre, it has performed very well on rank cotton. Target spot has helped defoliate the bottom canopy and I don’t forsee any issues with this first round of treatments. Everyone has mixed views on yields. With the weather conditions we’ve had, most would be happy with 800-1000 lbs. I’m estimating boll rot and hard lock have damaged at least 20% of our crop.
Some areas have still been receiving heavy rain showers. Some defoliation has gone out by air as a result. There is plenty of twisted cotton so aerial applications will be on the increase in the coming weeks. Harvest should begin by the end of next week.
