Cotton Seed Distributors article

A video version is available at www.csd.net.au/  

Jim Bible, Farm Agronomist for Agriland Ltd at Narromine, discusses planting strategies and key considerations in limited water situations leading up to planting.

Jim, we are currently just heading into the planting season for the 2006/2007 cotton year.  Many growers are faced with limited water coming into this season unfortunately.  What are the key considerations like leading up to planting and just making sure that every opportunity to make the most of it in the limited water situation?

Yes, we are under the same scenario as everyone.  We are under limited water so what we are doing is we are just making sure that all of our beds are well prepared and we are probably taking the approach of a dryland grower at the moment.  All our beds are rolled and ready to go so that we can take advantage of any moisture that is available so that when we can make the big decision when to plant and how we are going to plant either onto moisture or into rain, yes it is a tricky one.  So that is probably going to be the biggest factor when we come to the crunch.  It won’t be a date or admittedly we have got to have good soil tilth arriving at time of planting with a good seed bed and then making sure that we are sitting on that 14° and rising.  But if because of the situation if the weather is going to change then we might have to adjust our thoughts that way a little bit.

So normally, going into planting if everything was OK, plenty of water you would really go on soil temperatures as your main decision time for planting and I guess looking at soil temps that standard in the morning at 10cm and then probably looking at weather forecast following that?

Yes that is right.  So we will still keep a close eye on it because it is still critical and the data suggests that if you planting under 14° you could be in trouble so we will keep a very close eye on it and that will still be a major factor on when we start that because of the water the last thing we need to do at the moment is because of the dry winter we have had and the wheat is struggling now we can’t really afford to water up just because of the limited water.  So if we have to water up that means that we are going to have to plant less cotton.  At the moment we are going to work our plan purely on the rain and with our variable soils as well is another important problem we have got.  We have got so many different soil types that if we wait for rain and try and chase  the moisture some parts of the paddock is too wet and the other parts are too dry so I think what we are going to try and do is plant dry in front of change and hopefully deal with the problems of crusting mechanically that we can handle later on.  So that is probably going to be the driving force on planting this year.  

Things like planting depth obviously that is going to be pretty important not to get it in too deep?

Yes that is correct to so that’s a rule of thumb is a knuckle and knuckle and a half at the most.  Once you start going too deep down here in the Macquarie things can change pretty quickly and you just know that if you are down two knuckles you are in for a long emergence time and with that comes all the seedling diseases and stuff as well so yes its fraught with danger.  But I suppose that is the tradeoff we have got to take this year because we are going to have to plant shallow, do we get those 5 – 10 mls of rain to start the whole system going but not enough then to follow through so that’s going to be a critical concern as well.  

You have had some pretty dry seasons here the last few seasons or the last couple of years and I guess many other growers are in a similar situation so you would have a lot of fallow country virtually ready to go.  What have you been doing with your fallow country?  Keeping it sprayed and that sort of thing but how is the soil condition in those fallow fields?

Yeh, they have come up very well so that is one of the things that we have tried to get on our farm at the moment is a one to one rotation when we have got time get  the country prepared and its all looking fine.  We have gassed early, we have come through and put our starter fertilizer through lilliston and then the beds have been rolled probably for a couple of weeks now and just ready to take advantage of any available moisture.  Also the bed preparations, they are nice and uniform so that does help with our planting depth.  So there is good soil and seed contact so the beds aren’t too cloddy which at planting time can be a bit of a worry and we have got on our planters some little discs in front the trash whippers so if we do get that little bit of rain or a few fields that aren’t quite up to scratch we can just skim over the top and come into some nice tilth so hopefully that will come off again this year.  

Looking at Bollgard II Jim, what are your thoughts as far as the potential to maybe plant a little bit later to maximize the chance of getting the crop away?

Yes I think the way the Bollgard II has been performing, this is only our second year so I am probably on a limited knowledge there but we tried a little bit last year late planted and it came off quite well.  It was still behind the yields of the stuff that we planted early but the yields that these fields or this trial that we had did achieve were quite acceptable.  So it’s a case there of I think that is going to come into play as well when knowing that we can plant a little bit later, so holding off and making sure that we are under those ideal temperatures, ideal planting conditions and hopefully with a little bit of moisture. 

To finish off Jim, looking at having your planting set up correctly and making sure your monitors are all working and just to make sure you can do it in one pass and do it properly.  What are your key points there as far as keeping an eye on the planters and checking the depth and all that sort of thing?

We do it in the off season so probably 6 weeks, 2 months ago we pulled the planters in and just went right through them because the last thing you need at planting time when the pressure is on and you have got rain coming or rain just gone that you don’t want to be mucking around for half a day fixing bearings so we just go through and make sure all the chains that the tension is right and the cogs haven’t stripped in the last season, make sure that the dust covers on the seed boxes and the Temik boxes are all clean, make sure that the bearings and the wheels – seeding wheels spinning, making sure also if you have to put a herbicide planting down that you know that the spray lines are clean, they haven’t got any herbicide residual left in them and blocked nozzles.  So they are only little things but they are things that you know if they are going to go wrong they will in that first couple of days and usually when you are under a bit of pressure the last thing you need is to be falling behind there so I think the planting maintenance, a little bit of time now saves a lot of time and heartache down the track for sure.