What causes cotton boll rot?
Why do cotton bolls rot? How should they be prevented and controlled? Every autumn harvest season, cotton boll rot becomes a major headache for cotton farmers. What should be done? Based on years of experience, the author proposes "five measures" that fellow cotton farmers might try. First, timely pest control. Cotton boll rot is mostly caused by pathogens entering through insect holes on the bolls...
Why do cotton bolls rot? How should they be prevented and controlled?
Every autumn harvest season, cotton boll rot becomes a major headache for cotton farmers. What should be done? Based on years of experience, the author proposes "five measures" that fellow cotton farmers might try.
First, timely pest control. Cotton boll rot is mostly caused by pathogens invading through insect holes on the bolls. Therefore, pest damage should be prevented and controlled in a timely manner to reduce the damage rate of bollworms and other boring pests.
Second, dry the soil to reduce humidity. In August and September, rainfall is relatively heavy. The greater the humidity in the cotton field during this period, the more serious the boll rot. Therefore, after heavy rain, attention should be paid to draining standing water from the cotton field and drying the soil to reduce humidity.
Third, improve ventilation and light penetration. Strengthen cotton field management in the middle and late stages, and ensure good ventilation and light penetration within the field. Especially for cotton fields with high density and vigorous growth, after the full flowering stage, promptly prune empty fruit branches, remove vigorous buds, and remove the side tips of the middle and lower parts and old leaves on the main stem in stages and batches.
Fourth, spray chemicals. In August and September, under high-humidity climatic conditions, spray 40% fosetyl-aluminum wettable powder at 500 times dilution, or 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 1000 times dilution, 1-2 times on the cotton bolls in the middle and lower parts of the cotton plants, which gives good results in controlling boll rot.
Fifth, remove old bolls. When boll rot begins to appear in the cotton field, promptly pick the old bolls and diseased bolls from the middle and lower parts of the cotton plants, shell and sun-dry the cotton, to prevent boll rot. This can also harvest a certain amount of seed cotton and reduce losses.
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