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Detailed Explanation of Key Management Techniques for Cotton Seedling Stage Cultivation

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This year, cotton was sown at the appropriate time and seedlings emerged evenly, so as to promote strong seedlings and early development as well as balanced growth. The current main management measures are: 1. Clear ditches and drain water, prevent waterlogging and hidden water damage. Cotton requires little water at the seedling stage, generally accounting for only about 15% of total water consumption. However, our city has much rain at this time, high soil moisture, and a high groundwater table, often resulting in visible waterlogging and hidden water damage, causing soil oxygen deficiency, reduced soil temperature, weakened root activity, sluggish cotton plant growth, and susceptibility to disease and root rot and seedling death. Cotton farmers often say, "The cause starts in the water, the disease is in the roots, and the fierce sun kills it," and there is reason in this saying

This year, cotton was sown at the appropriate time and seedlings emerged evenly, so as to promote strong seedlings and early development as well as balanced growth. The current main management measures are:

1. Clear ditches and drain water, prevent waterlogging and hidden water damage. Cotton requires little water at the seedling stage, generally accounting for only about 15% of total water consumption. However, our city has much rain at this time, high soil moisture, and a high groundwater table, often resulting in visible waterlogging and hidden water damage, causing soil oxygen deficiency, reduced soil temperature, weakened root activity, sluggish cotton plant growth, and susceptibility to disease and root rot and seedling death. Cotton farmers often say, "The cause starts in the water, the disease is in the roots, and the fierce sun kills it," and there is reason in this saying. Of course, excessive drought at the seedling stage can also cause growth to stall. "Water is cotton's life, and also cotton's disease," which explains the relationship between water and cotton growth. According to the local climate characteristics at the seedling stage, doing a good job of opening ditches and draining water is very important, lowering the water table as much as possible to below 1.5 m to ensure good cotton root development.

2. Intertillage and weeding, promote root growth. During the cotton seedling stage there is much rain, the soil easily becomes compacted, the temperature is relatively low, fertilizer decomposition is slow, and the cotton seedling stage lasts a relatively long time, so growth is slow. At this time, however, weeds reproduce and grow very quickly, competing with cotton seedlings for light and fertilizer, and further affecting cotton seedling growth. Therefore, intertillage and weeding become important work in seedling stage management. In recent years, cotton regions have vigorously promoted herbicides, greatly reducing the labor of manual weeding. In intertillage and loosening the soil, follow the principle of shallow first and then deep, shallow near the rows, deep between the rows, and shallow between the plants. Early intertillage should be about half a cun deep, then gradually deepened.

3. Reasonably apply seedling fertilizer as a top dressing. After cotton seedlings emerge, the nutrients stored in the seed itself are basically used up. To meet the needs of cotton seedling root development and vegetative body formation, seedling fertilizer should be applied promptly and reasonably as a top dressing at the seedling stage, especially in cotton fields with heavy clay soil, poor fertility, little base fertilizer, and no base seed fertilizer, where seedling fertilizer should be applied earlier. Seedling fertilizer is generally applied at 3-5 kg of urea per mu, watered and applied.

4. Check seedlings, fill gaps, thin seedlings, and finalize seedling spacing. After cotton seeds germinate and emerge, check seedlings and fill gaps in time. At present, most gap filling uses seedlings of the same age, which helps balanced growth. "Thinning seedlings is like burning them as firewood" is enough to show the importance of timely thinning. Thinning is generally "one pinch, two thinnings, three finalizations." Finalization should be carried out at the 2-4 true leaf stage, leaving seedlings according to the planned density.

5. Pest and disease control at the cotton seedling stage. The main diseases at the cotton seedling stage are damping-off, anthracnose, red rot, stem blight, brown spot, and black spot; in some years there are also blight and angular leaf spot. The main insect pests are cutworms, snails, field slugs, cotton aphids, cotton mirids, and so on; in individual cotton fields there are also small leaf rollers, thrips, and others. These pests and diseases seriously threaten full stands and strong seedlings of cotton. In mild cases they cause slow growth and delayed development; in severe cases they cause broken tops and missing plants, and even patchy seedling death. Therefore, the policy of "prevention first, integrated control" must be carried out to ensure strong seedlings and early development. In pest and disease control at the seedling stage, in addition to clearing ditches and draining water and eliminating weeds, the main approach is chemical control. At present there are many types of chemicals, and they are updated and replaced quickly, so in control it is necessary to adapt to local conditions, select the right pesticides, remain vigilant, and ensure control quality. Never spray with highly toxic chemicals or at high concentrations. Specific guidance for control should be based on pest and disease information from the local agricultural technology department.

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