By Ryan McGeeney
With most Arkansas cotton in the ground, growers are now contending with high soil moisture and the prospect of stunted plants if things don’t dry out soon.
Zachary Treadway, extension cotton and peanut agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said that the near-weekly rain events Arkansas has experienced throughout the spring delayed many growers’ planting efforts while punishing those who managed to plant their cotton early.
“Some stuff that got in early got a lot of water,” Treadway said. “Cotton, as a crop, does not like to have ‘wet feet,’ staying wet and sitting in water.”
Treadway some growers will likely see a certain degree of plant stunting and other negative effects correlated with cotton roots subjected to excess water.
Source : uada.edu