Mississippi's cotton was on the road to success in early July until weather stress, insects and diseases forced the crop to take a detour. Dr. Will McCarty, cotton specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said the August crops are a far cry from the fields a month earlier. We had the motherload of crops until hot, dry weather, insects and diseases took their toll. McCarty said thanks to timely rains in early July, some of Mississippi's cotton looks good.
Harvesting early improves market prices and helps avoid lost quality due to fall rains.
The cotton specialist said plants have had significant problems with fruit shed. Wilt diseases on various varieties also have caused their share of damage. Dr. Blake Layton, Extension entomology specialist, said bollworms and tobacco budworms have not been kind to the 1998 cotton crop. The good news has been the lack of boll weevils in Mississippi's hill cotton where boll weevil eradication efforts are underway. Bt cotton has done its job minimizing budworm damage, but bollworms have bit into Bt yields.