2011 Cotton Crop - Upland, Green & Brown
Winter has now set in with crisp, cold nights and mostly drab days. A good time to tackle some tasks that can be completed indoors.
I finally got around to picking the cotton bolls from the dried-up plants in the back porch, and now I’ve started to remove the seeds. There were a total of six plants that produced mature bolls (one plant had small bolls forming when the cold weather stopped it’s growth).
The Upland cotton (white bolls and fibre in front) was the most prolific, while there were only one or two bolls from the green and brown plants.
Upland Cotton Seeds
I was surprised at how much fibre each Upland boll contains, and quite pleased at the number of seeds that I have for this year’s crop.
I’ve ordered a takli spindle from Joan Ruane at Cotton Spinning so that I can spin up my little crop into yarn.
In the meantime, I’ll be picking out the rest of the seeds and planning for a slightly bigger cotton plot this Spring.
Last year I started the seeds on Feb 23, and I think I’ll try for a little earlier start this year. I’ll also plan to transplant some into a bed that I can protect with a row cover to provide additional heat and to prolong the growing season further into the Fall.
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