What are the precautions before cotton harvest?

Cotton generally takes 60-70 days from boll opening to the end of harvest, so it must be harvested in multiple pickings. The ideal time to pick is generally 7 days after the boll cracks open. Cotton picking generally has the following requirements:

1. Picking technique: mainly adopt the "three clean" and "five separate" picking method. "Three clean" means when picking, the plant is clean, the boll husk is clean, and the ground is clean. "Five separate" means separate picking, separate drying, separate storage, separate ginning, and separate selling. When picking cotton, good cotton, stiff-boll cotton, and cotton that has fallen to the ground must be picked separately, dried separately, and stored separately, and must not be mixed together, so as to facilitate graded selling.

2. Pick at the right time. After cotton bolls open, pick once every 5-7 days. If picked too early, the cotton fiber has not yet fully matured, and yield and quality are reduced; if picked too late, the cotton lint is exposed to wind and sun, which reduces fiber strength and pollutes the color, also lowering cotton quality. Therefore, during the boll-opening stage, cotton must be picked at the right time with care and precision to improve cotton fiber quality and grade.

3. Prevent rain damage. When mature cotton lint encounters rain, the pigments in the boll husk, cotton leaves, and bracts all contaminate the cotton fiber, causing the pure white cotton fiber to develop dull yellow, dull red, or grayish-white spots. If there is continuous rainy weather, it can also cause mold and deterioration. Therefore, keep track of weather changes at all times, pay attention to weather forecasts, and pick cotton before the rain.

4. Spray chemicals to promote ripening. In the late boll-opening stage of cotton, use pesticides to promote ripening of basically mature green bolls so they can be picked earlier. This not only reduces damage from autumn rain and increases quality cotton by more than 20 percent, but also allows the stalks to be pulled 5-7 days earlier, which is beneficial for sowing small spring crops.