cotton #2 question

[littlered166]

how many times does the picker go through a field of cotton. In Georgia it looked like they had gone through the field once and a lot of cotton was still left on the plant. Thanks in advance for info. Pembroke

[jworley]

Once. The thing about cotton is, whatever is left in the field can be seen from the road, you can’t see from the road how much of other crops such as corn and soybeans get left in the field.

[Lars (midessa)]

When cotton was picked by hand, was that much left in the field?

[jworley]

That was before my time but I’m guessing they got every fiber back then.

[Big Bud guy]

I thought cotton pickers went through the field multiple times while a cotton stripper went through the field once and took everything. 

[jworley]

Just once, even though it looks like it, there’s very little left. It won’t pay for the expense of going through it again. I picked over some with a four row way back. I picked over it almost a whole afternoon and didn’t have but maybe 1 1/2 bales. Most times there’s probably less than 25 lbs left.

[Delta88]

We use to "scrap" cotton ; which was a second picking. If the first picking yielded 7-800 lbs then scrapping would bring 150-200 lbs at best. Producers stopped scapping when the picker costs surged and cotton genetics improved to where first picking yielded the majority of the expected yield.

[acem]

"Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch. We all picked the cotton but we never got rich."

https://youtu.be/lHdXQAQHjd8

 

[ray54]

I believe in the early days of mechanical cotton picker they at times would pick a second time. Defoliants and growth regulators also came on in the 60 and 70's.  The growth regulators help open cotton bowl.  Until the bowl is open the picker cannot get it.

[littlered166]

Thanks guys for the lessons about cotton.

[acem]

Your welcome.

I thought they grew cotton in Kentucky?

It was a slave state.

Thx-Ace 

[oleman]

On 10/28/2022 at 4:10 PM, Lars (midessa) said:

When cotton was picked by hand, was that much left in the field?

I have picked cotton by hand, not a single bowl was allowed in a picked field.  The problem with picking by the pound is that it easier to just hit the easy areas. In the old days cottons did not mature due to herbicides so we would pick multiple times in a season.  

[acem]

The Arkansas department of corrections had picked cotton until recent times.

[Diesel Doctor]

18 hours ago, littlered166 said:

Thanks guys for the lessons about cotton.

Thanks to the Alabama RPRU for their show on cotton. 

It was very informative to a group of South Dakota flat landers who had never been around cotton.

I now want to get into an area which grew tobacco.

I have never been around that either.

I did have the pleasure of talking with a gentleman at the Wisconsin RPRU that had grown it.

I could have listened to him all day about it.

[acem]

I'm pretty sure you can grow tobacco in South Dakota.

Just start some seed in the late winter. Transplant them too the garden. Keep the bugs and disease away. It's not that hard to grow in the garden.

We have grown it before Just because and we don't smoke, chew, or any of that.

Thx-Ace 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

1 hour ago, Diesel Doctor said:

Thanks to the Alabama RPRU for their show on cotton. 

It was very informative to a group of South Dakota flat landers who had never been around cotton.

I now want to get into an area which grew tobacco.

I have never been around that either.

I did have the pleasure of talking with a gentleman at the Wisconsin RPRU that had grown it.

I could have listened to him all day about it.

I don’t miss raising tobacco at all. The labor and my inability to have enough of it was the worst part. The markets after the buyout were nothing but frustration. 

[Big Bud guy]

What is stripper cotton then or what is the point of it??  Regional thing.  I know they came out with cotton stripper before pickers.

[iowaboy1965]

Lower grade is my understanding. Used for things like tarps ect. The stripper heads are more of a nylon rotating set of brushes that takes everything. I think stripper cotton is grown on more marginal land?

[highcotton]

Second picking is good for picker fires too…

[twostepn2001]

 

2 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

What is stripper cotton then or what is the point of it??

There is a lot of differences between stripper and picker cotton. Picker cotton is usually a little taller and more "bushier" than stripper cotton. Picker cotton has longer staple where as stripper cotton has shorter staple. "Staple" refers to the length of the fiber. Most stripper cotton is called "storm proof" because it can withstand more wind and moisture before the lint will start to fall out of the boll.  Stripper cotton basically has shorter fibers and requires fewer heat units. Therefore it can be grown at higher elevations and fewer days. That is one reason they have been able to start growing newer varieties of cotton as far north as southern Kansas in the past few years. And since they started putting lint cleaners on stripper machines the cotton is a lot cleaner when it gets to the gin and gins out a lot better so the grades are a lot better than 30 years ago.

33 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

34 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Lower grade is my understanding. Used for things like tarps ect. The stripper heads are more of a nylon rotating set of brushes that takes everything. I think stripper cotton is grown on more marginal land?

Stripper cotton is used for everything from denim to T-shirts and underwear among other things.  The only "marginal" land that cotton is grown on would be considered dryland, at least in this region.

Here is a pic of batts and brushes. Brushes are a hard nylon and the batts are rubber, similar to mudflaps. The other pic shows how they are mounted, usually alternating. (red-batts   black-brushes)

 

[gafarm49]

11 hours ago, Diesel Doctor said:

Thanks to the Alabama RPRU for their show on cotton. 

It was very informative to a group of South Dakota flat landers who had never been around cotton.

I now want to get into an area which grew tobacco.

I have never been around that either.

I did have the pleasure of talking with a gentleman at the Wisconsin RPRU that had grown it.

I could have listened to him all day about it.

I grew it till 2009

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

Whoa, I grew it until 2015 and we didn’t have anything near that advanced. 4 row, no till setter, I wish. 

 

[acem]

Nice pics of growing tobacco. Thanks for posting.

 

[acem]

I always liked the look of those pickers.

There used to be alot of those.  I haven't seen one in decades. I think they are all gone.

Thx-Ace 

[gafarm49]