Southeastern Drought Continues
With the exception of a few counties in the Montgomery (Alabama) area, the remainder of the southeast remains extremely dry as of May 23rd. Cotton planting has slowed or stopped where irrigation is not present. In central and south Alabama only about 10% of the cotton acreage is under irrigation.
Cotton Insects
Thrips continue to feed heavily on cotton, even up to and through the five true leaf stage. On May 18, more than 10 thrips per plant were recorded on mid-April planted cotton at Prattville, Alabama. Even cotton planted with Temik at 5#/A needed a foliar spray under this level of pressure. All other at-planting treatments were even more severely stunted. We likely have lost at least 10-12 days of maturity in fields with the heaviest thrips injury.
