Cotton Specialists Corner

A herbicide pass that misses is not a “learning moment” in cotton, it is a bill you pay all season. With drought across the Cotton Belt and budgets under pressure, we sit down with weed scientists Dr. Charlie Cahoon (NC State), Dr. Sarah Gansky (Kansas State), and Dr. Larry Steckel (University of Tennessee) to get brutally practical about optimizing cotton weed control without gambling on luck. We dig into what they told growers to protect even when commodity prices are low: keeping residual...

Cotton fertility decisions can feel like a gamble when you’re staring at dry soil, volatile input prices, and a cotton market that can change fast. We sit down with soil fertility experts from Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma to sort out what actually helps you protect yield and profit going into the 2026 season and what simply adds cost before you even know you’ll keep a stand. We dig into at-plant fertility strategies across very different regions, including why many growers still front-load ...

Cotton seed is expensive, but the real question isn’t “How many seeds did you plant?” It’s “How many healthy, evenly spaced plants actually carry yield to the picker.” We sit down with cotton specialists from the University of Georgia, Texas A&M AgriLife, the University of Tennessee, Auburn University, and NC State to compare seeding rate recommendations across the Cotton Belt and explain why the right number changes with moisture, irrigation capacity, and planting risk. We talk st...

When the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed on July 4th, 2025, it marked a turning point for America's cotton farmers after years of economic hardship. But what exactly does this legislation mean for growers across the Cotton Belt, and how did the industry secure these critical policy wins? In this revealing conversation, Camp Hand hosts three key cotton industry leaders—Taz Smith from the National Cotton Council, Kody Bessent from Plains Cotton Growers, and Taylor Sills from the Georgia ...

Drs. Shelley Pate-Kerns (Louisiana State University), Brian Pieralisi (Mississippi State University), Zachary Treadway (University of Arkansas), Tyson Raper (University of Tennessee), and Bradley Wilson (University of Missouri) join host Camp Hand (University of Georgia) to discuss the status of the Mid-South Cotton Crop. Discussions include planting conditions and planted acres, current situation, and the crop outlook.

Drs. Jesse Daystar (Chief Sustainability Officer, Cotton Inc.) and Richard Venditti (Professor, Dept. of Forest Biomaterials at NC State) join host Camp Hand (University of Georgia) to discuss plastic leakage, particularly as it pertains to microplastic contamination in the environment and our bodies. Conversations revolve around the sustainability of cotton and how polyester is the main source of microplastic contamination around the world. For those wanting additional resources, those can b...

Extension Cotton Specialists Drs. Ken Lege (Texas A&M Agrilife), Tyson Raper (University of Tennssee), and Mike Jones (Clemson University) join host Camp Hand (University of Georgia) to discuss ways that growers across the cotton belt are adjusting production strategies with the difficult economic situation facing the farm in 2025. Conversations revolve around reducing current inputs (seeding rates, fertility) or changing production strategies entirely (ELS/conventional cotton) and associ...

Byron Cole, Deputy Director of the Grading Division, and Greg Townsend, Area Director of the Visalia Cotton Classing Office, join host Steve Brown to discuss the USDA Cotton Classing System, including Some of the history behind the SystemThe processes and diligence of delivering consistent, repeatable analysis of samples within and across Classing OfficesThe actual how-to's of classing HVI versus the old wayYear-to-year challenges and efficiencies Extraneous MatterDiffer...

Extension Cotton Specialists Drs. Randy Norton (University of Arizona), Brian Pieralisi (Mississippi State) and Camp Hand (University of Georgia) join host Steve Brown to discuss approaches, means, methods and challenges of irrigation in their respective regions. We also discuss WHEN to quit, when to shut off irrigation and the associated factors that go into that decision.

Soil Scientists / Fertility Experts Drs. Hunter Frame (Virginia Tech), Glen Harris (University of Georgia), Audrey Gamble (Auburn University) and Katie Lewis (Texas A&M) join host Steve Brown of Auburn to discuss the challenges associated with K management in cotton. Sometimes, particularly in the the Lower Southeast, we can fertilize appropriately and still encounter K deficiencies, presumably because pre-bloom heat/moisture stresses limit K uptake; then during boll-fill, K demand from l...

Bhupinder Farmaha (Clemson University), Tyson Raper (University of Tennessee), John Arnall (Oklahoma State) and Katie Lewis (Texas A&M) join host Steve Brown to discuss N management in cotton. The session addresses: Are we using too much N in some areas? Why do many N studies across the Belt show limited or even no response to N? If that is the case, where does the N come from? How much N is actually required to make a bale of cotton (and the associated seed, etc.)? Can we mine resi...

Fred Bourland (University of Arkansas) and John Snider (University of Georgia) join host Steve Brown for another discussion on cotton seed quality. We talk about seed quality variations within the plant, within varieties, the effects of ginning and acid delinting, seed vigor versus seedling vigor and other related issues. This is the second of two sessions on Cotton SEED QUALITY.

Drs. Mike Jones of Clemson University and Ken Lege of Texas A&M join host Steve Brown of Auburn to discuss methods of variety testing and evaluation as well as the process of variety development at the corporate level. We talk about small plot OVTs versus large scale on-farm trials and the relative strengths of each. Variety selection is extremely important -- study the data!