Defoliation in September is Likely
9-2-2026
This Summer has been hot for 3 months in a row. Getting a hot month seems normal for most years, but having uniquely hot weather for 3 months is more rare. The Peanut/Cotton Infonet has reported that we passed 2000 DD-60’s as of September first plus the first week of September still carries high 90 temperatures. That has happened before and these are the years that we can find fields that are ready for defoliation in the middle to late September. The dry weather has caused some of our top crops to shed off that will also increase the earliness of the crop. There has been a good bit of shedding on the sandy soils as well as the areas with the lowest rainfall during the last three weeks.
EVALUATING TOP BOLLS
Fields that held on to some top bolls are going to be common as well as fields that did not. I think some factors that will complicate the defoliation decision is how variable the land is in a field or whether or not you had some rain late in August that caused just a few top bolls to stick on that are isolated and immature at the top of the plant. If there are enough of these, it might pay to wait. I would expect around 25 immature bolls that are easy to mash and are watery would end up being around 75-100 pounds of lint if you waited about 3 more weeks beyond the main crop for those few to mature. We call those phantom bolls when it is well into October because they just don’t mature much but in September, so this year, it's going to be a little more of a decision. Some folks might try and wait on this. Others would say it's not worth delaying harvest because it would be possible to lose several hundred pounds from a November northeaster if we have some unwelcomed late fall weather.
Normal Rules Still apply
Using NACB, tan to brown seed coats in top bolls and percent of open bolls are all still valid. Planting dates will also be a factor but soil type is a bigger deal. In variable fields with significant amounts of good soil mixed in with Light spots, I would disregard the light spots and make the decision on the better areas that will higher bolls.
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