End in Sight for the Cotton Season in Queensland

The cotton season in Queensland is drawing towards its completion, with harvest and defoliation expected to be drawn out affairs.

Reporting on the small Central Queensland crop, CSD extension and development agronomist, John Marshall, said results will be mixed as a result of the wet and cloudy conditions throughout the season.

He said about 15 per cent of the reduced planted area of 3500 hectares in the Emerald region had been destroyed by floods in January, with boll rot and tight locking triggered in some crops by continuing rain during February.

Damian Erbacher, a cotton consultant at Theodore, said most crops had handled the cloudy conditions well, although there was some fruit loss in younger crops, and Silverleaf Whitefly pressure was high in some irrigated crops.

For growers on the Darling Downs, while heliothis control has been good, some sprays have been required for thrips, mirids, pale cotton stainers and Green Vegetable bugs, with Silverleaf Whitefly also of potential concern.

“Above average heat is now required during March to finish a lot of the Downs crops off, and ideally dry conditions for picking in April/May,” John Marshall noted on the weekly CSD Web on Wednesday video.

David Kelly, CSD extension and development agronomist in the Border Rivers region, said the smallest cotton crop in 20 years had endured a season with very mild temperatures, and some unfortunate herbicide drift issues.

Crops most severely impacted are those planted at the end of November and were small when the first drift events occurred near the middle of December. The combination of the mild season and sometimes repeated drift events meant some would now struggle to compensate before they run out of season.

Looking to the 2008-09 season, all three crop analysts are confident of a positive upward turnaround in cotton plantings following three rough years, spurred by improved water availability, better prices, and increased competitiveness with sorghum and corn.

Damian Erbacher expects a full area plant in the Dawson Callide while John Marshall foresees improved plantings in the Central Highlands, although repairs to irrigation structures damaged in the February floods will be a major limitation. He is confident that improved moisture profiles and replenished on-farm storages will benefit increased plantings on most of the Downs.

David Kelly notes that some on-farm storages will be utilized for finishing other summer crops and for an expanded winter cropping program, but a reasonable area should be planted to cotton again next season in the Border Rivers region.

Further information: John Marshall 0428 950 010 or David Kelly 0428 950 021