This year cotton is more advanced for early October than it was last year, and it looks like we are in store for more warm weather.
We have defoliated more 25% with a lot of that being south of 58 in Virginia. A good amount will be sprayed this week, and we still have cotton that needs to mature more having 7 or 8 nodes above cracked boll and less than 50% open. Some is even only 20% open or less so it definitely needs to gain more maturity.
An October frost is always a deal-breaker for trying to gain maturity on cotton that needs more time. This year the extended forecast is not showing any cool spells for the whole month, but we need to watch daily for changes when playing the waiting game.
Last year we got a season-ending frost in October, but it is not uncommon for us to escape frost in October, allowing the very latest cotton to have more time.
