Two fields were grid scouted in 1997 in conjuction with a random sampling done by a crop consulting service. Aerial photos were also taken at the time that the field was scouted. At maturity, the cotton was harvested from the same areas that cotton growth was measured. Temporal patterns revealed that the spatial variability in cotton growth increases under uniform rates of PIX and that better determination of when to apply PIX could be achieved by spatial-temporal tracking of cotton growth. The relationship between lint yield and cotton growth has not yet been determined due to a late harvest season.
Aerial photos show a strong correlation between green color and cotton height.
Further analysis of this data is underway. In North Carolina prior knowledge of soil properties such as texture, CEC, and organic matter can help determine where and how precision soil samples should be pulled and can assist farmers in applying nutrients. Soil samples were taken from these fields to compare with the soil conductance information. Strong correlations were found with CEC in all fields tested. In the tidewater region CEC is strongly influenced by humic matter in the heavy organic soils.