FranCFries

Can not remember for sure, but when I was in Yuma, AZ. All cotton plants had to be out of the ground (or tilled under), by Novembe 1st each year. Not sure if it is the same all over or not. But cotton is balled and sitting in the fields by October. Hope this helps some

vickimc

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/rowcrops/cotton/

all you ever wanted to know about cotton can be found here.

frarose

Ladies in the South use to put cotton with the seeds in quilts for batting. I was raised on a cotton farm in Southern Ga and at that time they didn't have the big machinery to harvest it. We started picking around the end of August as it opened up so we had to pick the same plants several times. I think now they wait until they are all ripe. My dad hired people and we picked. It was picked in a burlap bag with a shoulder strap and you dumped your full bag into a cotton sheet which was tied by pulling the 4 corners in. It was then weighed on a cotton scale and the workers back then were paid from 1cent to 2 cent a lb for picking. We kept ours in a big barn just dumped in there. Then when there was enough my dad shoveled it into the truck and took it to town to the cotton gin where he got paid. Don't know the process today.

rdorminy

Don't know much about growing cotton but I do know how to "Pick" it, smile. Grew up in GA with Uncle's who had farms and they always had tobaco and cotton crops. As a family member we all did our share of working with the tobaco and cotton. I "HATED" picking cotton. Would rather sleep on the sheets covered with the picked cotton in the fields. That was the good Ole days. Now everything is done by machines. Ho Hum!

scrappy happy

do you remember what your dad got paid for his cotton?

mzsooz

This has turned into a very interesting conversation. A reminder that we have such a diverse group of people on this board. I love hearing the stories of "back when". :thumbup:

frarose

No think I ever knew what prices they got at the gin. My dad is passed but I do have a 94 yr old uncle. He never grew cotton.

Marty K

Australia is really hurting because of that major flooding about a month ago and it all but destroyed all the cotton crop, to my understanding. We have missionaries in Thailand that depend on Aus. cotton for their ability to make purses that they sell to keep their mission going. They are worried not only about the price, but if there will even be any!!!

Cosy

Quote from Lavada:
"Laugh all you want try picking the seeds out of cotton by hand not easy i know as we lived in arkansas when i was growing up as mom used it for batting in quilts was i ever glad to leave arkansa and move to iowa at age 19 never would i go back there life was hard for my parents but they were the greatest"

Oh. not to demean anyone who works hard. I am so grateful that I have never had to work in the fields, and so grateful for those who went before and made life easier now. Not that I live in a bed of roses, by any means, but I didn't have to cross the plains on foot, cross the Atlantic in steerage, work in the fields. I didn't live through the depression or the rations and deprivations of WWII. And I have the utmost respect for all those who did.
I have always had enough to eat, although I've eaten my share of beans; clothes to wear, even if hand-me-downs or 2nd hand; a roof over my head; a bed, sometimes shared with 3 sisters.

suesembroidery

yes, we are cotton farmers and have had cotton on our ground for many years. My DH was an inspector for the Dept of Agri for 18 years. I will have him answer any questions you need when he gets in tonight. They make great plants for your garden too. They start out with a pink flower and turn white.