Are you noticing slight yellowing along your cotton’s leaf margins? If so, your crop may have a potassium (K) deficiency.

Deficiency in potassium is one of the most common yield-limiting factors across the Cotton Belt. Cotton can require upwards of 50 pounds of potassium per bale of yield.

“Traditional potassium fertility approaches have either focused on fall applications of dry potash or pre-plant applications of dry potash,” says Bert Riggan, Concept Ag agronomist, “This strategy is very inefficient and can lead to serious potassium deficits during peak demand, which occurs during the flowering/boll fill stage.”

Supplementing with efficient foliar potassium applications can and will help alleviate the stress and subsequent yield loss.

New cotton varieties are far more prodigious in flower production and are bred for significantly higher yields than the industry standards of 20 years ago. Superior varieties require superior fertility.

Riggan is seeing potassium deficiencies all over the south.

“Notice two plants I’ve seen deficiencies in recently. The first is early onset. Notice the slight yellowing along the leaf margins. If left unchecked, the second picture is where your crop will be in as few as 14 days. The demand for potassium is so great and the available K in the soil is so low that the plant has begun to cannibalize its own leaves to try and meet the reproductive demand for potassium.”

Mississippi State University recently conducted field tests examining the efficacy of foliar potassium, specifically Foliar K^©, over untreated plots. Results confirmed that an application of one gallon per acre of Foliar K^® applied at or near peak bloom resulted in a yield increase over no foliar application.

“Feeding the plant with Foliar K^® at the proper time can significantly increase return on investment (ROI),” explains Riggan, “Foliar K^® customers are seeing tremendous ROI when using this program.”

^®™Trademark of Concept Ag.  Foliar K^® is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your local Concept Ag dealer or representative for details and availability in your state. Always read and follow all label directions and precautions for use when using any fertilizer alone or in tank-mix combinations.

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