Cotton specialists have long contended that defoliation is as much art as it is science with success depending on numerous factors beyond a farmer’s control.

However, a few important practices improve the odds of knocking off leaves in a timely manner and sending a cleaner product to the gin.

Three cotton consultants weigh in on the best tips to achieve the best results in preparing cotton for harvest, Oklahoma State Extension agronomist Todd Baughman, Ardmore; Mark Nemec, MJN Consulting Services, Hewitt; and Justin Chopelas, JWC Consulting, Inc., Odem.

Todd Baughman, Oklahoma State Extension agronomist, Ardmore (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

Baughman offers six tips for effective cotton defoliation. Those recommendations are:

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As far as product options, Baughman recommends “staying with the tried and true. Apply Prep to set the crop up on two-shot program. Ginstar helps repress regrowth. If not worried about regrowth, a Def-type product or Def and a PPO.

“We don’t have a lot of new products available,” Baughman said. “Reviton, a relatively new PPO product, similar to Sharpen and Aim, is probably the latest.”

Central Texas

 Nemec agrees that defoliation is “part art and part science, and sometimes it’s part dumb luck.

 “Every year is different, starting from scratch trying to determine what to use,” Nemec says.

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Consultants Mark Nemec, MJN Consulting Services, Hewitt; and Justin Chopelas, JWC Consulting, Inc., Odem (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

Nemec’s tips for Central Texas include:

Texas Coastal Bend

Chopelas says location makes a difference in effective cotton defoliation.

“What I do here in the Coastal Bend might not work in Wharton,” Chopelas says. “This year might be the toughest I’ve faced in 24 years of consulting.” 

Chopelas says his system might be a bit simpler than programs to the north.

He cites two approaches to cotton defoliation. “One is nodes above cracked boll. The other is days to ethephon application when the plant is ready to pop bolls open.”

He prefers the latter.

“We are fortunate in the Coastal Bend,” he says. “It’s hot. Dropp and ethephon work fantastic, so I haven’t varied much from that over the last nine or ten years. Historically that system works. We don’t have cold nights.”

But 2023 has been different. “This is an oddball year.”

He says he adds branded Ginstar because it makes Dropp rain-fast in an hour. “That’s critical on the coast because of summertime showers. In a normal year, Dropp gets washed off. But not this year.

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“Dropp, Ginstar, and ethephon are my basic go-to applications. But this is the first time in 24 years that I’ve  made a Folex recommendation. It’s  so hot and dry Folex is working to cut the cuticle.  Dropp and ethephon are not working as well.”

Chopelas says another approach is managed maturity.  “Over the years FMC has offered products used as conditioning agents to knock out vegetative growth on top to hasten maturity. In a normal year, I do a some of that.

“But typically, it’s 100% two-shot applications —  Dropp or Dropp and Ginstar if it rains. I sometimes might make a third application of Dropp and ethephon. I don’t vary from much that.”

Chopelas says the 2023 cotton crop along the Coastal Bend is “awful. We’re on day 62 ([on August 7) of 100 plus degrees. I’ve never seen a crop crater like this one.”

Defoliation can be complicated: A little science, a little art, a little luck, and keep an eye on the weather.

Correction: In a previous version of this article, the brand name of a new PPO product was misidentified. The name is Reviton.