How to handle several special situations after sowing cotton

1. Insufficient soil moisture

After sowing cotton, check the soil moisture promptly. For cotton fields with poor moisture and a risk of drying out, open a small furrow along the side of the seed furrow and water lightly; for cotton fields without irrigation conditions, press the soil before the seedlings emerge to raise moisture.

2. Rain after sowing

If it rains after cotton sowing, the soil surface tends to crust and form a hard shell. After the rain, loosen the soil with a hoe in time to break the crust and help the seedlings emerge. If the covering soil is too thick, scrape away soil to rescue the seedlings; the uncovered seedlings cannot withstand strong direct sunlight, so when scraping soil, be careful to leave a small amount of moist soil above the seedlings.

3. Incomplete emergence

After sowing cotton, check the emergence situation promptly. Once missed sowing or rotten seeds or buds are found, carry out pregermination and reseeding as soon as possible; if missing plants or broken rows are found, immediately transplant seedlings to fill the gaps. Before the cotton seedlings produce one true leaf, use sprouted-seedling transplanting; after true leaves appear, use transplanting with soil. No matter which transplanting method is used, water as little as possible to shorten the recovery period. To prevent large seedlings from suppressing small ones, transplanted cotton seedlings should occupy relatively large space.

4. Encountering low-temperature weather

During the period of cotton sowing and emergence, the weather is often changeable. Once low-temperature weather occurs, loosen the soil with a hoe in time to increase temperature, or spread plant ash along the rows to raise the soil temperature around the cotton seedlings. When necessary, spray the cotton seedlings with a 500-800 times dilution of 25% carbendazim or a 1000 times dilution of 70% thiophanate-methyl to prevent the spread of disease.