Last week was tempting to plant cotton, but the cool weather predicted for earlier this week was not ideal. The weather is looking a little better now on April 24. The soil temperature today at 8 am ranged from low to mid-60s. We need to keep an eye on soil temperatures, especially when conditions are predicted to decline next Wednesday, April 29.

Just as important as soil temperatures is the soil moisture at planting. With the dry weather, it is important not to plant too deeply in an effort to reach moisture. In dry conditions, it is usually better to plant shallow, in completely dry soil, and let the next rain bring the crop up. We call this "dusting the crop in". Planting too deeply to reach moisture is dangerous: you may get enough moisture to germinate the seed, but then the seed dries out and dies. Planting deep only adds stress to seedlings and prolongs the time to emergence. Cottonseed can stand cooler temperatures in dry soil.

We would not recommend going all out on planting right now due to the dry weather and marginal conditions. We think a good strategy is to plant some cotton now and not get in a hurry to try to complete planting, especially since we are so early in the planting season. Spreading your planting dates is a good way to help manage risk.