Home › Growing Techniques › Article

Cotton pruning has its rules: prune reasonably according to local conditions

Growing Techniques 0 views
Conventional cotton pruning is what cotton farmers know best, but the other two pruning methods - simplified pruning and no-pruning - are not so familiar to some. The purpose of cotton pruning is to adjust nutrient distribution, control vegetative growth, promote reproductive growth, regulate plant shape, determine the number of fruit branches, reduce the consumption of nutrients by ineffective flower buds, and promote early maturity. Logically, cotton using conventional pruning should yield more than cotton using simplified pruning and no-pruning, but in production practice, affected by planting density and environmental conditions, this is not entirely the case. Therefore

Conventional cotton pruning is what cotton farmers know best, but the other two pruning methods - simplified pruning and no-pruning - are not so familiar to some. The purpose of cotton pruning is to adjust nutrient distribution, control vegetative growth, promote reproductive growth, regulate plant shape, determine the number of fruit branches, reduce the consumption of nutrients by ineffective flower buds, and promote early maturity. Logically, cotton using conventional pruning should yield more than cotton using simplified pruning and no-pruning, but in production practice, affected by planting density and environmental conditions, this is not entirely the case. Therefore, suitable pruning methods should be adopted according to local conditions.

Conventional pruning

The entire process of conventional pruning is removing leaf branches, removing superfluous buds, removing ear whiskers, topping the main stem, and topping the group branches, and it is the pruning method that requires the most labor. It is suitable for areas where cotton planting density is above 3000 plants, the planting area is relatively small, irrigation is possible in drought and drainage is possible in waterlogging, and labor is abundant. With conventional pruning, the greatest fear is encountering drought in the middle and late stages without irrigation conditions; if cotton prematurely senesces at this time, the yield will instead be lower than with no-pruning or simplified pruning.

No-pruning

As the name implies, no-pruning simplifies the cumbersome cotton pruning process to topping only once. No-pruning is suitable for areas where cotton planting density is 2000-2500 plants, the planting area is relatively large, soil fertility is relatively good, there are no irrigation conditions, and labor is insufficient, relying on saving labor to reduce costs and improve benefits. In years when drought occurs in the middle and late stages and causes premature senescence of cotton, no-pruning will instead produce a higher yield than conventional pruning. Cotton using no-pruning has a well-developed root system and strong drought resistance and premature senescence resistance; note that the topping time should be appropriately earlier than for cotton using conventional pruning.

Simplified pruning

Simplified pruning is leaving 2 leaf branches below the fruit branches and removing all other leaf branches; the other processes are the same as conventional pruning, group branches may not be topped, and 2 rounds of removing superfluous buds can be reduced. When the dominant leaf branch grows 3 secondary fruit branches, top the leaf branch. Simplified pruning is a pruning method between conventional pruning and no-pruning, suitable for cotton fields with medium or higher soil fertility. With this pruning method, cotton is both drought-resistant and waterlogging-tolerant, and whether in years with heavy rain or in drought years, it has a relatively high yield.

Related Articles