It seems like just yesterday we were planting the 2019 Georgia cotton crop, yet here at the end of September producers have already gotten started with defoliation and harvest. It’s cotton pickin’ time in the South, and the fields located near our house are snowy white with cotton that’s ready to be harvested. This scene above is one that I’ve … “We’re hoping we can run into the night,” said Greg Sikes, a Georgia cotton farmer who had only harvested 10% of his 4,000 acres yesterday. This scene above is one that I’ve … It’s cotton pickin’ time in the South, and the fields located near our house are snowy white with cotton that’s ready to be harvested. In 2014 the state ranked second in cotton production in the United States, behind Texas, planting 1.4 million acres. Cotton is a full season crop in Florida, usually planted from mid April until late May. We use cotton to make everything from clothing and rope to fishing nets, coffee filters, and paper. In 1932, the picture of cotton production in Bartow County, Georgia was almost identical with that in the six adjoining counties of Cherokee, Cobb, Gordon, Floyd, Polk and Paulding. Timely harvest is important for cotton, but critical for peanut and with only so much time in the day, producers have been forced to put peanut harvest ahead of cotton harvest. But its scope and success were limited. Cotton played an important role in the history of India, the British Empire, and the United States, and continues to be an important crop and commodity. In 1987, Georgia began the active treatment and trapping phase of an eradication program that has helped return cotton to its former prominence in the state. The Georgia cotton crop declined by eighty percent only seven years after the boll weevil appeared in Thomasville in 1915. RE: When is the height of cotton picking season in the American South--specifically, Georgia and South Carolina? Much of it has to do with our extremely long growing season and due to the fact that Georgia has such a large peanut crop. Cotton is an indispensable crop. Some harvested cotton modules were damaged by wind and rain from the hurricane. As late as 1983, Georgia produced only 112,000 bales of cotton on 115,000 acres of harvested land. From this you can grasp the fear that cotton producers have for this destructive insect. Therefore, cotton stalks are mowed after harvest, in part to help control the cotton boll weevil. Most cotton fields are maturing rapidly, due in large part to limited late season rains. As late as 1983, Georgia produced only 112,000 bales of cotton on 115,000 acres of harvested land. But growers, at least in the southeastern U.S., usually will not mow cotton stalks until all or most of their fields are harvested. A cotton picker pulling the lint from the plants bracts that … Acres Harvested 1.495 million Production (480 pound bales) 2.466 million Yield (Average pounds per acre) 791 Crop Value $1.3 billion (Lint & seed) (Lint - $1.2 billion...Seed - $161.3 million) Econoimic Contribution of Cotton in the Georgia Economy Georgia Historical Cotton Acreage and Production . It takes about six months for the plant to go from seed to open bolls, and the bolls must be open for the crop to be harvested. In terms of cotton production by state, U.S. cotton is mostly grown and harvested in the Southern states, also known as the “Cotton Belt” where cotton plantations were established in the 1800s. Global cotton supply is already being constrained by whitefly attacks in Pakistan’s Punjab region and extensive damage to the smaller North Carolina cotton crop caused by Hurricane Florence. The winds whipped the cotton bolls from his plants just like they had been harvested. "For me the cotton crop is as bad as it gets. We typically get started at the end of September, but things are moving faster this year. In the US the two predominant ways to harvest cotton on farms is either using 1) mechanical cotton pickers or 2) using a mechanical cotton stripper. The history of cotton can be traced to domestication. Georgia cotton farmers face late harvest | Macon Telegraph SECTIONS Skip to Content It spread to forty Georgia counties in four months. This Site Might Help You. ALABAMA. Eighty-eight percent of cotton bolls were open and vulnerable to the hurricane’s destructive winds. I was picking 3 bale cotton yesterday, today it is gone," cotton farmer and State Representative Clay Pirkle told the Georgia Department of Agriculture. In 1987, Georgia began the active treatment and trapping phase of an eradication program that has helped return cotton to its former prominence in the state. From the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, there was no more important single factor in Georgia's agricultural economy than cotton. These days, more and more people are trying their hand at growing cotton, whether its to live a self-sufficient lifestyle, to learn an ancient craft, or to make a little cash. October 1, 2014 in Specialists Speaking. This year a much larger portion of the crop will be planted in June than normal and there are several things to consider which may dramatically impact the relative success of these acres.