- Author: Robert B Hutmacher
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
After the recent spate of storms, reports of hail damage have come in to several UCCE offices. In response, Dr. Bob Hutmacher prepared the following information (a printable pdf document is available at the end of the post):
We have had some unusual weather so far in 2019, with repeated cool spells, thunderstorms and rain, and within the past week, some widespread locations getting hail. While hail damage can be a fairly common late spring and early summer occurrence in many cotton production regions across the U.S., it is a much more unusual problem here in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, cotton has been growing more slowly than usual this year due to cloudy, generally cool...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
Cotton lint stickiness is a significant problem, worldwide. It is also an issue here in California, and a major focus of attention for cotton growers and ginners in the state. Sticky cotton loads can physically slow down the processing speeds of gins, even to the point of shut down. Stickiness may necessitate the special handling of contaminated bales, which can result in increased costs. The milling process can also be affected by stickiness, as work stoppages may be required to clean combs and rollers. Millers may choose to blend sticky fibers with clean ones as a way to mitigate the situation or they may elect to engage with different cotton merchants altogether in order to avoid persistent problems.
While free plant sugars...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
A drive around the San Joaquin Valley has revealed some fields with Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) rising above the crop canopy.
A male Palmer amaranth in a corn field in Merced County
Palmer amaranth is a tall (growing up to 10 feet in height), dioecious (male and female flowers develop on separate plants), summer annual that grows rapidly and produces significant amounts of seed (upwards of 400,000-1,000,000 per female plant). The species is extremely competitive with many crops, including corn and cotton. In the...
