Widespread showers and thunderstorms roamed the Texas High Plains overnight and more expected. Lag behind normal growth and development reinforces the need to protect early fruit set, agronomist says.
Cotton futures settled on a new contract low close in benchmark December Tuesday, posting a lower high for the 15th consecutive session.
December closed off 55 points to 67.75 cents, in the lower quarter of its 117-point range from down 80 points at 67.50 to up 37 points at 68.67 cents. It fell below MondayΆs low of 67.83 but held above FridayΆs intraday contract low of 67.10 cents.
Volume rose to an estimated 14,703 lots from a final 13,711 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 3,635 lots or 27%, EFP 230 lots and EFS 176 lots. Options volume totaled 4,391 calls and 7,022 puts.
Widespread showers and thunderstorms roamed the Texas High Plains overnight, bringing rainfall of 0.02 of an inch to 1.45 inches at National Weather Service reporting sites.
Amounts averaged almost half an inch. Lubbock recorded 0.28-inch to 8 a.m. Tuesday. A couple of key dryland areas, Lamesa and Tahoka, reported 0.05 and 0.22-inch, respectively.
Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast, with rainfall chances in the Lubbock area rated at 50% Tuesday and Wednesday nights, diminishing to 30% Thursday. Daytime high temperatures are expected to cool to 78 degrees on Thursday, rebounding into the mid-90s into the weekend and near 99 on Monday.
The High Plains crop is behind the normal growth and development curve, described as similar to what was observed in 2013.
“I have seen fields with cotton that is at best 10 days to two weeks behind and at worst three to four weeks behind,” says Mark Kelley, extension agronomist at Lubbock.
The delay in growth reinforces the need to protect early fruit set by reducing competition from weeds and monitoring and controlling insects, he added last week in a report in Focus on South Plains Agriculture.
Kelley said he has received calls from producers asking if anything could be applied to struggling cotton to increase growth and development. No product has been identified to accomplish that, he said.
Typically, cotton will bloom 35 to 40 days after planting with heat accumulations of 950, the agronomist said, pointing out that this can vary with variety and environment.
Heat unit accumulations measured from May 10 — five days beyond the opening of the traditional optimum cotton planting period — totaled 1,041 through Monday at Lubbock, 3 units below the long-term average.
Because of the developmental delay, Kelley said, “it is highly important for producers to maintain as much of the current fruit set as possible by being vigilant with weed and insect control.
“An open fall is not a guarantee in the Texas High Plains and an early cool snap could result in low yields and low quality from late fruit set,” he pointed out.
Insect pest pressure on cotton thus far has been low and limited to certain pockets, said Apurba Barman, extension cotton entomologist. However, cotton has been treated at several locations for fleahoppers, the primary pest during squaring, he said.
Futures open interest gained 597 lots Monday to 150,495, with DecemberΆs up 991 lots to 118,603 and MarchΆs up 34 lots to 24,760. Cert stocks fell 15,198 bales to 367,214. Awaiting review were 9,703 bales.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index gained 20 points Tuesday morning to 83.55 cents and the Forward A Index for 2014-15 was steady at 75.90 cents. The 2014-15 discount to the old-crop index widened 20 points to 7.65 cents and the premium to MondayΆs December futures settlement 18 points to 7.60 cents.
