Cotton planting is up to 80 percent completed across the South Plains, according to various estimates. And as fields dry and no significant rain chances are forecast this week, remaining acreage could receive seeds fairly quickly. Cotton-planting insurance deadlines vary by county. Swisher County, for instance, saw its final planting-without-late-penalty date on May 31. Of course, farmers in the Tulia area whose fields weren’t dry enough at that time can still plant certain other crops with later deadlines. Integrated pest management agent Blayne Reed said he anticipates seeing more corn and sorghum planted within the next few weeks. A few other county deadlines were Sunday, but some aren’t until Friday. Others are June 20. “If you’re in a June 10 or a June 20 county, I don’t know how it could be much better,” said Steve Verett, executive director of Plains Cotton Growers. But of that 20 percent of cotton acreage still waiting for cotton, at least some could have to keep waiting. In this troubled market, a few farmers could be unable to secure financing to plant as much as they would like, predicted Russ Perkins of Bayer Crop Science. “It won’t be the whole 20 percent ... but it’s still a pretty good chunk of ground where it won’t happen this time,” the technical service representative said Friday at a Plains Cotton Growers meeting. Of the majority of cotton that’s already been planted, most is surviving the disease risks that are increased in its wet environment, agronomist Jason Woodward said. “We’ve picked up a little more seedling disease, but it’s amazing how well these fungicides have held up,” said Woodward, who works for Texas Tech and Texas A&M AgriLife. “Seedling disease is not as big a problem as I would have expected.” Weed trouble this season, on the other hand, is practically inevitable. Pigweeds that evolved a resistance to glyphosate are here to stay, and the last few years have seen a return to residual treatments and old-school hoe crews. “If it warms up next week, the pigweeds are gonna be coming like crazy,” said Wayne Keeling, an AgriLife specialist in cropping systems and weed science. Source - http://lubbockonline.com