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. -- Cotton leafroll dwarf virus is capable of causing significant yield loss and was reported for the first time in Mississippi earlier this year.
The implications of this disease will be a major focus of the 2019 Mississippi State University Row Crop Short Course Dec. 2-4 at the Cotton Mill Conference Center in Starkville. This course is hosted by the MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.
Parts of Mississippi’s landscape are turning white, but unlike some northern areas, this coloration is caused by cotton bolls opening for harvest, not snow accumulation.
All of Mississippi’s 2019 cotton crop has emerged, but it’s off to a slow start.
Of approximately 700,000 acres of cotton planted statewide this year, 57% is rated fair or worse by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as of July 8.
Although numbers on paper look about right for Mississippi row crops, the reality is actually quite grim in places.
HAMILTON, Miss. -- Determining the extent of tornado damage to farms in Monroe County will take weeks, but video shot from flying drones will speed up the process.
Mississippi State University Extension Service personnel have been assisting in relief efforts since the morning after an EF-2 tornado on April 13 damaged more than 140 homes in Hamilton, claiming one life and injuring 19 others.
