Cotton Development and Growth Staging
The United States produces 8.5 billion pounds of cotton every year.¹ The plant’s fiber is used to create a variety of products including clothing, sheets, towels, cotton swabs, bandages, and even money. The seeds are also used to produce items such as lotion, candles, and soap. Currently, upland cotton, also known as Gossypium hirsutum L., is the most common species of cotton grown in the United States.²
Cotton plants are structurally complex crops—they are extremely sensitive to unfavorable environmental conditions.³ While their growth is often quite predictable, management can be more difficult.
Producing high-yielding, quality cotton requires a strong understanding of its growth throughout production. A deep understanding of each stage of development will help you better manage the crop from planting to harvest. Certain fertility decisions are only effective at specific stages of development, and factors like the climate and soil conditions can impact the evolution of growth. Thus, it is important to better understand a cotton plant’s growth stages and development cycle to make more informed management decisions while meeting your productivity and profitability goals. Knowing what stage of growth your cotton plants are in will also allow you to better manage their health, assess crop quality, and determine the best time to harvest.
Cotton plants can be easily tracked throughout the growth process when grown in the right soil conditions. The plant’s growth stages can be broken down into four parts: germination and emergence, vegetative growth, reproductive growth, and defoliation.
Click on each of the MORE buttons below to explore each stage of growth and important considerations to make during each.
Sources:
¹University of Utah, Uses and Types of Cotton
²The University of Georgia, Cotton Growth and Development
³National Cotton Council of America, Growth and Development of a Cotton Plant
