cotton - Greenmount Press

District Reports…
warmth that was held in the bed. By now most growers are
approaching the first true in crop irrigation, with the majority
of the crops around the 8–9 leaf stage and the first squares
appearing. All planting dates are showing to be above the
average for heat units but they are behind last season (see
Table 1).
TABLE 1: Day Degrees for Hillston and Griffith
districts for three planting dates
District
Day
Degrees
2012–13
Day
Degrees
2011–12
Average
Hot
Shock
Griffith
543
Sept 15 plant
578 488 2 46
Griffith
Oct 1 plant
459 485 418 2 32
Griffith
Oct 15 plant
381 421 340 2 19
Hillston
605
Sept 15 plant
630 544 4 43
Hillston
Oct 1 plant
506 523 463 4 30
Hillston
Oct 15 plant
413 450 375 4 18
ANswEr To IAN’s MysTEry
TrACTor QUIZ
Cold
Shock
The mystery tractor was photographed at Ashburton, New
Zealand, and is owned by R.S. Hart.
Bob Lukin of WA restored the green example. The tractors
are identical models of a 1932 Hofherr-Schrantz-Clayton-
Shuttleworth, manufactured in Budapest. Quite a number
of these odd-ball single cylinder semi-diesel machines were
imported into Australia prior to and after World War II. Hard
to start, even with the required blow lamp, but once started –
unstoppable!
On the insect front, thrips have only just started to become a
problem as the wheat crops in the area start to hay off. Pumpkin
beetles have also started to become a nuisance as most have
been feeding on the weeds (melons and bladder ketmia) and as
growers have sprayed their first Roundup Ready over the crop,
these pests have started to chew on the cotton. Under warmer
conditions this would not be a problem, but with the odd cool
days growers have had to spray to keep the leaf and growing
points viable (some tipping out being noticed).
It has been a big season for wireworm problems. Planting
insecticides, either seed dressings or in-furrow, have run their
course. Growers have been experiencing plant losses up to and
beyond the four leaf stage.
The expectation on some of these products has been high.
With the time it has taken for the crop to emerge (18 to 28 days
in southern NSW) some of the products only had a week of
protection before growers were starting to see signs of damage.
Some crops were also drying back, so the protection zone was
well below the seed placement and the wireworms were causing
damage five cm or more below the surface.
There have been some encouraging results from the use
of seed dressing with fertiliser. Early seedling vigour and plant
numbers have seen crops being 1 to 2 leaves above the nil
treatment. Early season vigour is extremely important for
growers in the south due to the cooler planting conditions. This
can be seen in the photo, where the nil is on the right and the
seed fertiliser treatment is on the left. This work will be carried
through to yield to see if there is an advantage.
Ginning is still underway. With the reduction in area this
year we hope not to see this drag out again. Yields and fibre
quality have been good for the area so far, but with the lower
price the area has come back to around 14,000 hectares for the
Lachlan (Hillston, Forbes and Condobolin) and 27,000 for the
Murrumbidgee (Griffith, Whitton, Coleambally and Hay).
Jorian Millyard
November 26, 2012
Aquatech Consulting....................26
Austral Rope & Cordage ..............19
Australian Cotton Trade Show ......43
Australian Herbicide Resistance ...47
Barcoo Lodge ..............................57
Barmac .......................................23
Bayer............................................9
BMC Partnership ...........................3
Caltex ......................................... 11
Cargill Cotton ..............................34
Case IH .......................................13
CGS............................................ IFC
Charlton................................ 18, 21
Convey-All.....................................8
Cotton Outlook............................59
CSD...............................................5
Countryco Training ......................16
Dinner Plain..................................1
Excel Ag ......................................45
Ecom Commodities ......................39
Gessner Industries..................Insert
Advertiser’s Index
Lindsay Corporation ....................27
Mapleton Agri Biotec ...................41
Moree Picker Parts ......................31
Moree Real Estate .......................34
Murray Valley Lasers...................28
Namoi Cotton..............................37
Neils Parts ....................................6
New Holland .................................7
Observant ...................................48
Omni Specialities ........................17
Pivot Irrigation............................29
Queensland Cotton......................35
S&G Cotton ................................IBC
SLTEC Fertilisers ..........................15
SMK Consultants............................2
Study Tours ................36, 42, Insert
Sumitomo ................................ OBC
The Appointments Group ...............2
Valmont ......................................25
Vomax Instrumentation ...............22
64 — The Australian Cottongrower December 2012–January 2013