The Mid-South had 13.43 inches of rain in February – a new record for the areas around Tupelo, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Jonesboro Ark. Weather experts say LaNina has been the culprit, and although they say the Mid-South should be transitioning out of that weather pattern, they were still estimating above-average rainfall throughout March – and they were right.

An update on planting activities from Extension personnel across the Mid-South reflects a central theme – warm and dry weather is needed. “Our producers should be bustin’ out of the bag this and next week planting cotton,” says Dan Fromme, associate professor, state cotton and corn specialist, LSU AgCenter. “A small number of acres were planted around the first week in April but we’ve had so much rain, I can’t even keep up with it.”

Fromme knows farmers in his area will probably get rains as they work their way through the first part of April, but the extended forecast does include much needed warmer weather. “We like to get our corn in the ground by April 10, while grain sorghum and cotton need to be planted by May 15,” adds Fromme. “Producers know anything planted past that time usually translates into lower yields.”

Louisiana harvested 220,000 acres of cotton last year. In the National Cotton Council’s Annual Planting Intentions Survey, Louisiana cotton producers were going to drop their acreage 2.6 percent to 214,000. “With the current price of cotton, and looking back at last’s year’s insect pressure, I think we could have fewer acres than that,” says Fromme. “It’s tough down here for cotton right now.”

Related:Mikey Taylor: Cover crops, no-till and measuring runoff

Fromme is seeing more growers using cover crops but going no-till is not an option. “We get so much rain, our growers sometimes just have to bite the bullet and get in the fields when conditions are less than optimum,” adds Fromme. “Because of those rainfall levels, we have to plant on beds and that requires tillage.”

Tennessee

About 80 percent of Tennessee’s corn crop has been planted according to Tyson Raper, assistant professor, cotton and small grains, University of Tennessee. If fields continue to dry, there may be more corn going in the ground, but Raper sees some of those acres going to soybeans or cotton. The NCC survey lists a 1.5 percent increase in Tennessee’s cotton acreage. “We don’t typically have many cotton acres planted by May 1, so we aren’t exactly behind - yet. Still, April finished cooler than we would have preferred,” says Raper. “I think growers will be cleaning corn out of their planters this week and loading hoppers with cotton or soybeans, especially with a warm forecast looming.”

With greater planter capacity than ever before, and with an increasingly positive outlook for U.S. cotton’s use on the world market, Raper is confident Tennessee could have more cotton acres planted even in a tight window. “Cotton’s share has been stabilizing and the lightening of garments (down 10-20 percent since 2006-07) has also slowed.  With these two headwinds abating, stronger economic growth should once again translate more directly to increased cotton consumption,” explains Jon Devine, senior Economist, Cotton Incorporated.

If Raper is correct, the 350,000 cotton acres estimated by Tennessee growers could increase. Growers in the Volunteer state usually plant early to mid-season varieties, especially north of I-40. “From a variety maturity standpoint, we just don’t have a lot of room to play,” says Raper. “We just can’t push that pendulum much farther towards earliness.”

Raper had some growers last year battling bollworm resistance to Bollgard II. The next generation of Bt varieties have been submitted for regional trials, which, according to Raper, indicates a shift to a variety carrying that extra protein is just around the corner. “We introduced five new Bollgard 3 varieties for 2018,” says Keylon Gholston, product manager, Deltapine. “This year, we produced enough cotton seed available to plant several hundred thousand acres.”

Mississippi

Drew Wilson, Extension agent, Quitman County, Miss., knows the insurance date for corn has passed and is waiting to see how many of those acres will go to another commodity, or remain fallow. “Some of that ground is marginal, and since commodity prices aren’t busting the roof right now, I know some of those farmers just may take a preventative payment on those acres,” says Wilson. “They sure don’t want to face an economic loss if they don’t make a good crop.”

If the Delta can dry out and allow farmers to get in their fields, the only commodity that may suffer the low acreage blues is corn. “My bigger concern is the same one Tyson has, this increasing bollworm resistance,” says Wilson. “We’re starting to see a lot of breakthrough in those earworm traits in corn and I’m sure it will become more pervasive in cotton, but I don’t recommend planting the farm to varieties carrying the extra protein unless you have seen regional yield trial results.”

Darrin Dodds, associate Extension, research professor, cotton agronomics, Mississippi State University believes cotton producers in his area are not behind yet. “I would have loved to see Mississippi farmers start planting cotton around April 15, but our weather patterns were just not conducive to that at all this year,” says Dodds. “If you look back at the last five or six years, our springs have been so wet and cool.”

Dodds reminds everyone despite the cool and wet planting conditions the last few years, Mississippi has made some subsequent 1,000 pound crops. “If we get to May 21, and we still don’t have a majority of our cotton planted, I will then get nervous.”

Despite his current concerns about late planting, he reminds everyone, the year Mississippi set a state record cotton crop, 60 percent of the crop went into the ground between May 15 and June 1. “That puts in perspective what a good fall can do for us,” concludes Dodds.