High Cotton winner grows high yields in environmentally sensitive area

<p><strong>Ford's next cotton season starts soon after the trucks haul the current year's bales away. In November, he pulls cotton stalks and soil samples and applies lime to correct pH. </strong></p>

<p>Fields to be planted in cotton get a rye cover crop. He shoots for a four-foot-or-better rye stand by March, when he'll start burndown with glyphosate, Valor, Prowl H20 and 2,4-D. He strip tills the rye for planting in mid-April.&nbsp; He was one of the first in the area to start using, and promoting, conservation strip tillage. Preplanting, he'll clean up any pigweeds with gramoxone.</p>

<p>He uses variable rate fertility applications and establishes grass waterways and field borders to manage runoff. In 2019, he planted Deltapine 1646 on irrigated land and 1840 on his dryland. Both got starter fertilizers of 10-34-0 and 28-00-5. Sandy soils will get a top-dress. When cotton squares, he applies additional potash as needed. He'll put out nitrogen through his irrigation system but also uses a coulter system to put nitrogen by the row.</p>

<p>"We have a good scout who gives us a report every week and lets us know whatever we need to do and when, and we do it on a timely basis," Ford said, adding that if weather prevents ground rigs, he calls in a plane.</p>

<p>About 80% of his cotton is under irrigation. Ford farms in a watershed and spring basin under strict water-use restrictions, he has a consumptive-use by the state he needs to comply with.</p>

<p>He uses soil tensiometer in most fields, which deliver data to his phone to help schedule irrigation. He has retro-fitted some systems with variable rate technology, which conserves water and reduces irrigation costs.</p>

<p>His average irrigated cotton yield goes 1,300 pounds per acre with some fields going as high as 1,700 pounds. Nonirrigated fields average 900 pounds to 1,100 pounds, depending on the year.</p>

<p>With his cattle operation, Ford uses a bahiagrass and a sod-base rotation, which helps to boosts his peanut and cotton yields coming off the cows grazing. His rotation is two years cotton and one-year peanuts.</p>

<p>He said the XtendFlex cotton performs well in his operation. But he has had some escape pigweed in the last two years. Up until then, he was applying a layby of Valor, glyphosate and Diuron. He plans to go back to that layby application for the next cotton season.</p>

<p>For his pre-emergence application, he uses Reflex and Diuron and then comes in with a glyphosate and Dual Magnum. He applies in-season dicamba at least once, and twice as needed.</p>

<p>"The cleaner you can keep a field, the higher the yields and better the grades," he said.</p>