What should be the soil temperature at planting time?
Ideally, the seedbed should be at least 68º F at the two inch depth, with dry weather and at least 50 DD-60s expected in the next 5 days.
Planting into cold soils increases the likelihood of chilling injury to seedlings, weak and variable stands and replanting. Replanting is expensive, can complicate herbicide and insecticide programs and delay maturity.
Generally this will be the last week of April or the first week of May. Some years differ and common sense must apply.
|
Thirty Year Average DD60
Accumulation By Week |
|
| WEEK | DD60s |
| April 9-15 | 28.7 |
| April 16-22 | 45.6 |
| April 23-29 | 48.4 |
| April 30-May 6 | 53.8 |
| May 7-13 | 71.0 |
| May 13-20 | 85.2 |
Publications
News
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Growers may be on their way to planting more cotton in Mississippi soil than they have in 11 years, despite a late start.
Darrin Dodds, cotton specialist for the Mississippi State University Extension Service, estimated that growers will plant 700,000 acres of cotton this year. If that much gets harvested, it will be the best total since 2006, when the state produced 1.2 million acres of cotton. Last year, Mississippi cotton producers harvested 625,000 acres.
ELLISVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University representatives met with agricultural clients in Ellisville recently to discuss research and education needs for 2018. More than 115 individuals attended this year's event.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Two highly anticipated online training modules are now available for those who plan to purchase or apply dicamba and similar herbicides.
The Mississippi State University Extension Service, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce Bureau of Plant Industry, developed these new online training courses related to herbicides labeled for use with dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans in response to label changes from the Environmental Protection Agency.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- In response to new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on the use of the herbicide dicamba, the Mississippi State University Extension Service is developing two online training courses to help cotton and soybean farmers follow the new rules.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The 2017 production value of Mississippi’s four largest row crops is forecasted to outperform the previous year by more than 7 percent.
Brian Williams, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, predicted the combined value of soybeans, cotton, corn and rice will be nearly $2.1 billion this year. The total projected value for all agronomic crops is $2.5 billion, which would be a 6.4 percent increase over the $2.4 billion value reached in 2016.
