Hot to Prepare for a Successful Cotton Growing Season

Ensuring your cotton harvest will be a successful one requires more than cotton picker parts in good condition. Your preparation must be as effective as possible, as any difficulties that your cotton may experience in its early stages of growth will prevent it from continued success throughout the growing season.

Before the season starts, read through the following tips and make a plan based on your expectations for your harvest:

  • Consider updating your row spacing: If your rows are spaced 38 to 40 inches wide, which is considered a fairly typical spacing, consider changing to a smaller pattern of 15 to 30 inches. This switch may prompt cotton to grow sooner and allow for more light if you find that your plants frequently tend to grow on the smaller side. However, determining whether to update your row spacing is not a decision that should be made hastily. It’s possible that such a change may require the purchase of new equipment, so be sure that changing the spacing of your rows is the most logical option for you and your harvesting needs.
  • Treat your plants with fungicides: Experts suggest that you should treat the plants that are part of your cotton harvest with at least two fungicides. Many fungicides protect against only one type of disease, and plants do not absorb all fungicide products the same way. At the time of planting, use an insecticide product designed to offer long-term results. Then, early in the season, be sure to observe your plants for any instances of mites or insects. If your cotton plants seem to be consistently growing, they may be able to resist some negative effects caused by pests as the season goes on.
  • Experiment with different plant varieties: If you’re seeking a high yield, it’s important to note that the variety of your plants and the quality of the seeds play a role in your crop’s success early in the season, and in the general health of your plants. As a result, be sure not to make plans to plant solely the varieties that produced the highest yields in a single season or year. Instead, compare the averages of these plants over multiple seasons. You also want to ensure that at least some of the varieties you’re planting can resist, or at least have some tolerance to, factors such as plant diseases, various pests, temperature and moisture. However, you should plant new-to-you varieties only on some of your land. Experts recommend that new varieties should make up no more than 10 percent of your harvest.

Now that you’re ready to perform the steps to plan for and carry out a successful harvest, take the time to order any cotton picker parts that you need before the season starts. At Certi-Pik, USA, we offer replacement parts for John Deere, Case IH and CNH cotton harvesters and are committed to providing high quality customer service. We treat every order as a rush order. Contact us today at 888-CERTIPIK (237-8474)!