Source:  NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSTION, 10/5/20


This is an update to the newsletter article we released last Wednesday, September 30, 2020, which now includes heat unit accumulation since that date and a new forecast through October 19. In places, there has been a slight improvement in predicted heat unit accumulation for this week, which could influence grower decisions on which fields to defoliate next, as most growers have (and should have) already begun defoliating. Additionally, the long-term forecast suggests a noticeable cooling trend may be coming sometime around the weekend after next (October 15–16), and if that holds true, there will be no heat unit accumulation beyond that point and will also become very difficult to open bolls if defoliation is delayed until then. We will continue to monitor the weather forecast later this week and into next week to hopefully provide the best agronomic information possible for growers to make defoliation timing decisions.

The intention of this article is to provide information so that defoliation timing decisions can be made, not to tell growers when they should or should not defoliate. There is not an ideal strategy here, with a crop that is not mature enough for defoliation, but also, little incentive to delay defoliation much further. The following information is based on the plethora of phone calls we’ve received to date.

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