By Macie Clugston
Communications Intern
Devastating weather this spring has left many Texas farmers behind on planting goals or facing damaged crops. Farmers who are looking for shorter season replant alternatives can use the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Alternative Crop Options after Failed Cotton and Late-Season Crop Planting for the Texas South Plains as a guide to aid in their decisions.
Rain, wind and hail created challenges for cotton growers this season leaving some famers look for alternative shorter season replant options said Dr. Calvin Trostle, Texas AgriLife Extension agronomist.
“Some farmers began indicating by June 3, after yet another rain, they would no longer try to plant cotton,” Dr. Calvin Trostle, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agronomist, in the June issue of Texas Row Crop newsletter. “So, this places our High Plains farmers in a possible replant decision on a failed crop, usually cotton, or pushes planting back so much that cotton or other full-season crops are no longer viable.”
The 2019 publication makes the 17th edition of the replant guide.
The guide features:
- Links for assessing current crop damage and viable plant populations for cotton, corn, grain sorghum and sunflowers.
- Things to remember when replanting after cotton and late-plant considerations for subsequent alternative crops.
- Management guidelines for replant and late-planted crops for more than a dozen crops, including: grain sorghum, soybeans, sesame, black-eyed peas, forages, guar and others. Agronomic planting dates, suggested seeding rates and contractor information will also be included.
Trostle noted the guide is focused on the Texas South Plains, but farmers across the Lone Star State may find the information beneficial, especially on crops farmers are less familiar with.