There are a small number of fields that are just now reaching the defoliation point.  By next week, 10 to 20% of the cotton fields should be ready for defoliation.  Most of these fields are on the sandiest soil types and in the areas that have had the lower amounts of rainfall during July and August.  Usually in the first half of September there is no urgency to getting the fields defoliated.  However, it could pay dividends to be timely on these first fields in order to terminate photosynthesis and halting micronaire development.  Micronaire continues to increase on those last few top bolls when the leaves are still on the plants and in some cases, this can lead to discounts if it gets too high.  This is particularly important on varieties that tend to produce high mike anyway such as Phytogen 370 and 485 and also Stoneville 4774.  In two weeks, I think that cotton is going to make tremendous maturity advancement and we should see more than half of the cotton in this region reaching full maturity by about September 20.  Warm weather defoliation should include Dropp as a key component.