Other Crops cotton farming

[Tobias Abeti]

I need to know full details and requirements and best practices in cotton farming

 

[Janssen]

Any insights @Ann or @Alfred Opiyo

 

[Alfred Opiyo]

I need to know full details and requirements and best practices in cotton farming

Hello Tobias, welcome and thank for your question on cotton. Here below are requirements and conditions for needed for cotton growing.
Temperature 18°c -22°c - environmental and soil temperatures below 15° will inhibit proper germination
Rainfall/moisture requirements
cotton can do well with as low as 500mm of rains distributed well during growing period. Insufficiency can be supplemented by irrigation especially for large scale growers.
Soils cotton require deep well drained fertile soils just as other crops do. Soil with higher levels of nitrogen give better production. It's important to do soil analysis to establish PH levels and nutrients levels and availability before fertilization regime is adopted.
Ferterlizer requirements. Cotton plants are naturally consumers of twice as much N- nitrogen as compared to P- phosphorus and K- potassium. In that effect one would require 100kgs (N) 50kgs (P) and 50kgs (K) per Ha or simply 40 kgs of N, 20kgs of P and K respectively in acre. Remember soil fertility differs therefore pre-application analysis is vital.
Fertilize your crop twice at planting time and also at flowering stage.
Land preparation and planting
Land preparation should be done early when soils are dry to help in weeds management and also enhance soil aeration which in turn improves germination of seeds
Early land preparation has the benefits like timely planting for rain fed production and maximum utilization of available soil moisture/ rainfall.
Planting
Cotton crops are propagated from seeds, certified seeds give better results and tolerant to diseases.
Planting spacing recommendation are 90cm×30cm
Weed Management
For best result it advisable to adopt IWM integrated weed management techniques which include preventive, cultural, mechanical biological and chemical methods in a combination to maximize output at least cost possible.
Harvesting
Cotton depending on variety and ecological set up of the growing region will need between 175- 225 days to be ready for picking.
The grower to ensure picking is done when weather conditions are clear and dry to avoid compromising quality of the lint.