Texas cotton prospects better from Central north
Aug 4, 2009 10:42 AM, By Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff
Texas cotton from the Northern Blacklands to the High Plains has potential to make a decent crop, depending on weather from now through fall, but prospects further south are less promising, says Texas AgriLife Extension cotton specialist Gaylon Morgan in College Station.
“The High Plains has good yield potential, but is behind due to replanting for various reasons,” Morgan says. “So, the High Plains will need a good fall to see the yield potential. Generally speaking, the area had good moisture as of a week or so ago.”
Morgan says the Northern Rolling Plains had a generally decent crop until high temperatures depleted soil moisture quickly. “I do not know if they caught any rain the last week because I was out of the state,” he says
“The Southern Rolling Plains is in good shape and has good potential. The Northern Blacklands has decent yield potential. But the Southern Blacklands has poor yield potential, except a few scattered fields that caught some good showers in June.”
Conditions worsen further south.
“The Upper Gulf Coast has struggled due to an extremely dry spring and summer. The yield potential is low,” Morgan says.
“The Coastal Bend was mainly zeroed out, and yield potential of the remaining crop is low.”
Morgan says corn and sorghum follow the same yield trends as cotton.
“Less than 5 percent of the Central Texas crops are irrigated,” he says. “The only irrigated land east of I-35 is in the River Bottoms, and irrigation there is also minimal.”
email: rsmith@farmpress.com
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