Seed dressing for cotton has many benefits; the right method gets twice the result with half the effort

Many years of practice have proven that proper seed dressing at cotton sowing time is one of the important measures to ensure full stands and strong cotton seedlings. It can economically, safely and effectively control or reduce damage from cotton seedling diseases, cotton aphids, soil pests and other diseases and pests, achieving twice the result with half the effort. Now that Qingming has passed, cotton sowing work across the city has been fully launched. This technique is briefly introduced as follows:

1. Choose disease-resistant or disease-tolerant varieties or sow coated seeds, which can advance emergence by 3 to 4 days and reduce disease incidence.

2. Use 1 kg of 75% phorate (3911) emulsifiable concentrate mixed with 100 kg of water to soak 100 kg of cotton seed; sow after soaking for 24 hours, and turn the seeds over several times during soaking. Alternatively, use hot-water seed soaking: soak the cotton seed in hot water (55°C-60°C) for half an hour, then remove and air-dry until the fuzz turns white, and evenly dress each 50 kg of dry cotton seed with 0.5 kg of 50% carbendazim wettable powder.

3. Mixing insecticides and fungicides for seed dressing is encouraged; the method is to dress with the insecticide first, then with the fungicide.