What to Do About Cotton Seedling Death? Prevention and Control Measures Explained in One Article

The demand for cotton in China is very high, and many everyday items are inseparable from cotton. Cotton cultivation is also very widespread in China, and to obtain high cotton yields, you have to start managing from the seedling stage. Good seedling management can guarantee at least half or more of the yield, but cotton seedlings commonly experience seedling death. It occurs in all regions of China, thus affecting the final yield. So how should we prevent seedling death? Let's take a look below.

1. Choose superior seeds

Selecting excellent varieties is an effective way to prevent seedling death. When choosing varieties, we should select those that are disease-free and pest-free with strong disease resistance. It also needs to be determined according to the planting plot. Some plots are places where seedling death occurs more often, and at such times we should choose varieties with relatively strong resistance to seedling death. In places with a lower incidence rate, we can choose varieties with relatively high yield and strong growth capacity to improve the balance of the plants. Therefore, choosing a good variety is the key to reducing seedling death and ensuring yield.

2. Reasonable weeding

When cotton fields are planted, many weeds will grow. To prevent weeds from affecting cotton growth, many people use large amounts of herbicides for weeding. In fact, herbicides not only affect weeds but also inhibit seedling growth and have an impact on them. Therefore, we must control the use of herbicides, try to weed by hand, and when using herbicides, spray evenly and mix them into the soil. Do not use excessive amounts.

3. Sowing preparation

When plowing the soil in spring, apply enough base fertilizer and do it together with plowing to improve soil fertility. Determine the amount of base fertilizer applied according to the planting area, and reasonably formulate the nutrient composition of the base fertilizer. 15 days before sowing, after plowing, water thoroughly. Carry out water conservation and soil moisture conservation work to provide good conditions for seed germination and seedling emergence. The sowing time should not be too early. When the low temperature is 15°C, that is the best sowing time and temperature.

4. Field management

Field management of seedlings is very important. If cloudy and rainy weather is encountered before the seeds have germinated and emerged, loosen the soil in time to ensure the emergence rate. After emergence, thin the seedlings in time. Thinning the seedlings can provide enough growth space for the seedlings and reduce the spread of pathogens. Cultivation should be timely and frequent so as to improve seedling growth, make the seedlings grow robustly, and enhance the seedlings' ability to resist seedling death.

5. Pest and disease control

During the seedling stage of cotton, it is the time when pests and diseases occur most, because cotton at the seedling stage has weak nutrient absorption capacity and poor resistance. When the temperature is slightly lower, it is very easy for it to be infected by pathogens and develop diseases such as anthracnose, leading to death. There are also various insect pests, such as mirids and cutworms, which cause great harm to seedling growth. Therefore, various pest and disease control tasks must be done well.

The above are the specific measures for preventing and controlling cotton seedling death. The editor has only briefly introduced them, and the specifics still need to be discovered by everyone in management. Among them, pests and diseases are what everyone should pay special attention to, because the cotton seedling stage is the most fragile time and also the most important time for cotton growth. A single moment of carelessness can lead to large-scale seedling death or even total crop failure.