There was a good forecast for this week last Friday, and now all the pretty weather we were supposed to get has gotten a little more sparse. Maybe it will change again back to more sunshine. At any rate, we were expecting a pretty day for Monday and fair but cooler Tuesday before we get three consecutive cloudy days.
With a little more than a week remaining in September, we are starting to get a little antsy about finding some fields to defoliate.
We still remain a good week ahead of last year, and I do not expect this crop will take three weeks after defoliation before we start picking because it should get very mature at the top. About 10% or more of the crop looks ready now and over the next week that number is going to quickly go to a third of the crop.
By the first week of October, over half of our cotton crop should reach a nice stage of maturity. Now the trick will be to find suitable spray days.
After the early part of this week, the next good spray date looks like Saturday. The temperature, sunshine, and getting that string of pretty days will have a huge impact on defoliation performance, just like always.
