With abnormally warm temperatures expected this week, there have been several questions regarding if it is a good time to plant cotton. To adequately answer this, several factors must be considered.

1. Yes, expected temperatures this week are essentially ideal for cotton planting, HOWEVER, the forecast currently has a 2-day cool spell for early next week. It may be shortlived and we're going into it warm, but why gamble it this early in the year.
2. Daily highs towards the end of this week are expected to exceed 90 degrees. Many places are already dry, and this will only get worse with such high temperatures coming. There doesnt appear to be much rain in the forecast until maybe early next week. It is better to plant into adequate moisture, and you certainly do NOT want to plant cotton deep in attempt to reach moisture.
3. It is only mid April. Right now, most folks are focused on temperatures. While they are ideal for cotton planting, at least for this week, we must consider our planting date. Planting now would essentially guarantee that cotton will be attempting to open noticeably earlier in August. August can be a very wet month for us. If so, you can expect noticeable hardlock and boll rot, and losses to such can be severe. If you decide to gamble it in hopes that August will be dry, you need to plan now to defoliate in late August or early September, and to harvest it soon after. If you wont be ready by then, there's no real urgency to plant now.

Aside from planting multiple varieties, one of the best ways to spread risk is to spread out your planting dates. In other words, plant a little all along when conditions are favorable. With that said, the earlier end of our "ideal" planting window is most commonly the last week of April through the first week of May, assuming temperatures are suitable. Then planting continues throughout May, ending on or around May 25th (our 1st crop insurance deadline). In some years (last year comes to mind), conditions may worsen even in May, but we do not know that yet. Even so, that would be unlikely. What we do know is that it is currently only mid April. Although conditions are suitable for planting this week, we urge you to strongly consider the risks mentioned above. If you DO decide to plant this early, limit the number of acres to only a very small proportion of your total acreage.