48 Growing Sea Island Cotton Under Florida Conditions 



acid muck and semi-muck soils, Sea Island cotton grew 

 well, and put on a good crop of bolls, but most of them 

 rotted. On the lighter, less acid soils, smaller plants were 

 produced, which fruited well, and matured the bolls. Appar- 

 ently, until more is known about how to grow Sea Island on 

 muck soils as acid as pH 5.5, they should be avoided except 

 for experimental plantings. However, the lighter soils, 

 whose acidity runs pH 5.8 and up, appear to be safe for Sea 

 Island. 



In the Melbourne area, the cotton stainer appeared in un- 

 expected numbers. Whether or not they will be as abundant 

 in other years, of course, remains to be seen. In some sec- 

 tions, the stainer is abundant only occasionally. However, 

 due to the abundance of known host plants in the Melbourne 

 area such as Caesar weed, Turk's Cap, and Hibiscus, prob- 

 ably the stainer will be abundant at least during most sea- 

 sons. Moreover, we think it probable that the stainer will 

 become more numerous than at present in Alachua, Marion, 

 Sumter, and surrounding counties if considerable acreage of 

 Sea Island cotton is planted over a period of years. 



The most satisfactory time of planting is not known for 

 the Melbourne area. It appears that picking must be done 

 in the summer or early fall, when laborers are not busy 

 with vegetables or fruit, else labor for picking will be impos- 

 sible to obtain or unduly expensive. This will require very 

 early planting. But will moisture conditions make this feas- 

 ible, except for irrigated lands? Bedding the land six or 

 eight weeks before planting and then conserving the moisture 

 as much as possible might solve this problem. 



Then, what of the possibilities of planting in the fall as 

 far south as Melbourne or Tampa? Sea Island cotton planted 

 around October 1 in this part of the state would have plenty 

 of moisture to get a good start, but no doubt would be killed 

 back by frost during the winter. Possibly, however, it would 

 sprout profusely in January or early February, and mature 

 a crop early enough for it to be gathered before the usual 

 summer rainy period sets in. However, no one can foresee 

 what problems might be encountered if this plan were tried. 

 No doubt the cotton would be heavily infested by the stain- 

 er, and only experience could answer the question as to 

 whether a stainer poisoning program would have to be car- 

 ried out in the fall or winter, or whether it would be just as 

 well to wait until it sprouted and began to fruit in the spring. 



