What to do when special situations arise after sowing cotton

Handling of several special situations after cotton sowing

1. Insufficient soil moisture After sowing cotton, check the soil moisture promptly. For cotton fields with poor moisture and a risk of drying out, dig a small furrow beside the seed furrow and water lightly; for cotton fields without irrigation conditions, press the soil before the seedlings emerge to draw up 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 by hoeing in time to break the crust and help the seedlings emerge. If the covering soil is too thick, scrape away the soil to rescue the seedlings; the exposed seedlings cannot withstand strong direct sunlight, so when scraping the soil, be careful to keep a small amount of moist soil on top of the seedlings.

3. Incomplete emergence After sowing cotton, check the emergence situation promptly. Once missed sowing or rotted seeds or rotted sprouts are found, carry out pregermination and reseeding as early as possible; when missing plants or broken rows are found, immediately transplant seedlings to fill the gaps. Before cotton seedlings produce one true leaf, use sprouted-seedling transplanting; after true leaves appear, use transplanting with soil. Whichever 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 spaces.

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 by hoeing in time to increase temperature, or broadcast plant ash along the rows to raise the soil temperature around the cotton seedlings. When necessary, spray the cotton seedlings with 36% carbendazim cotton wilt powder 1000-1500 times solution or 50% sterilization star 1000 times solution to control damping-off and anthracnose and prevent the spread of disease.