Cotton Plantin' Time

See the seed, that grows into a plant, that produces a bloom, that produces a boll, that produces white cotton, that produces, a thread, that produces the fabric, that became the very shirt you are wearing! Wow!  and it all started with cotton plantin' season!  No we don't plant it by hand but a hand does frequently get out and check the planting. (more on that later)

This is just a short description of how we plant cotton. There are different ways and methods of planting. One big difference is if your cotton is irrigated or if it is dryland.  We are dryland farmers and we depend on the good Lord to provide us with the moisture to plant, grow, and produce. Well it rained last week so now is the time to plant. 


This is the seed box. The lid opens up and a variety of cotton seed is dumped inside. Most of our cotton now a days is what they call "Round-up ready" which means you can spray it for weeds.  It is expensive and not something you plant without serious preparations of the soil. The box/plow has a blower in it.

See those hoses coming out of it in several directions.  Each one of those hoses extends to the modern day see planter--that is the wheel looking things. The row is made, the seed is shot from the seed box through the hose and into the ground. The last wheel helps pad down the soil so the seed is covered in hopefully warm, moist soil.  Cotton likes the heat of summer. 





 We are not high tech so our planter does not have a GPS system so we have this arm that sticks out from the plow.  This marks your row so you know where you have planted. Pretty simple system huh!

My apologizes for the dust but that is what farming is many times. And now the cotton is in the ground!  I will try to up date its progress through the growing season. 

Now you can give a second thought about how your shirt came to be! Thanks for stopping by today!