MISSOURI COTTON MAKING A COMEBACK

PORTAGEVILLE -- Missouri cotton is making a comeback.

Acreage has almost doubled since the mid-1980s, and is now back to 300,000 acres, all in Southeast Missouri.

"Our short-term season has found niche in the market," said Dave Albers, cotton scientist at the University of Missouri's Delta Center here.

"We plant our short-season cottons a week later and harvest it two weeks earlier than varieties grown a few years ago," he said. "That eliminates some insect and disease problems and gives us a growing season that enhances cotton quality.

Albers said ginners like the lint quality in the short-season cotton.

"And, those who wear cotton like it too," said Albers.

To further improve quality, Albers is working on better cotton plant defoliation. The trick is to know the leaves off cotton toward the end of the growing season so the cotton plant's energy is put into producing quality bolls.

Growers use Def or Folex, Dropp, Harvade and Prep to knock leaves off and to cause bolls to open, Albers said.

"The key to making the most out of defoliation is timing," he said. "You have to know when the bolls are near maturity. The best test is to cut the bolls with a knife. If the hull is tough, that is a good sign."

If you defoliate too soon, you lose cotton yield and fiber quality, noted Albers.

"When the seed coat turns tan, it's mature," he said. "That's the time to defoliate the plant."

Cotton in Southeast Missouri is about a week ahead of last year in maturity, but is two or three days behind the five-year average.

Thirty percent of cotton has open bolls in Missouri, but only 10 percent of the crop is rated as good this year. Eighty percent of the crop is rated only "fair."

Nationally, however, U.S. cotton production for 1991 is expected to be 17.6 million bales, the largest potential crop since 1937, the Agriculture Department says. That compares with 15.5 million bales in 1990.

Planted acreage nationally increased 14 percent in 1991 to 14.1 million acres, the largest area since 1981.

The national-average cotton yield is forecast at 630 pounds per harvested acre, down four pounds from last year, but five pounds above the previous five-year average.