As cotton growers head into the 2026 season, it’s only natural to look back at what they just finished. The 2025 season was anything but pretty for most growers in the High Plains region of west Texas and farther north into Oklahoma.
Nathan King grows cotton near Slaton, Texas, just southeast of Lubbock.
“I’ve been doing this for a while now,” King said. “I started farming when I was about 15 or 16. Then I started consulting. Now, I’m still doing both. I’m not a big farmer, but I know what it’s like to plant a crop and try to do everything you can all season long to make it work. The most important decisions you will make are usually made at planting. That will shape your entire season.
In the rough and tumble environment of crop growing just south of the Texas High Plains and beyond, that “earliness” factor can make or break a cotton crop.
“We’re constantly dodging the weather,” King said. “Whether it’s rain, no rain, hail or temperatures, we have to do everything we can to get the crop up and going so we have the best chance of finishing strong. A lot of it comes down to luck, but there are some things we can do to at least give the crop a fighting chance.”
What can be controlled, or at least influenced, is the effect of earliness on the crop. In this sense earliness does not necessarily mean early planting but rather encompasses a range of practices and inputs a grower can use to promote healthy, early plant development and the opportunity to capture the benefits of earliness at harvest as it relates to yield and quality.
Variety selection
With a large array of varieties to choose from, King mostly sticks with Deltapine and FiberMax depending on the field and the circumstances.
“Strong varieties are absolutely essential,” King said. “This area has seen a transformation and an incredible increase in the sheer numbers of cotton varieties available for growers over the past thirty years.”
With stronger, more flexible options in varieties that were developed over the years, management has become even more nuanced and intense as the years have ticked forward.
At planting
For years, King had used Temik aldicarb pesticide at planting until the previous manufacturer began phasing out the product in 2010. “I was just beside myself thinking, ‘what are we going to do?’” King said. “We had relied on it for so long for early season pest control—everything from nematodes to thrips and aphids to other early pest pressures.”
During the span of about five years when aldicarb was not available, King tried various alternatives but was never quite satisfied. “Sometimes I used varieties with seed treatments,” he said. “It can give you an added boost in certain situations.”
“Then, the active ingredient—aldicarb—came back branded as AgLogic 15GG, and it is basically the same thing as Temik,” he says. “I was very happy to have it back so we could control early season pest pressure more effectively and set the crop up for the best possible chance to survive the elements. It doesn’t always work, but you’ve got to give it the best chance.”
Earliness
It wasn’t just the nematodes, thrips, aphids and other early season pests, it is perhaps just as importantly, the impact on plant growth.
“There is something about the product that just promotes stronger, healthier growth from preemergence to at least the first six weeks of post emergence,” he said. “Obviously, a lot of that can be attributed to pest control, but there’s an additional kick you just don’t quite see with alternative products.”
Fertilizer input
Another early season factor is fertilizer. King now injects all of his nutrients through the drip system on his irrigated acres.
“That’s been a real game changer for me,” he said. “It puts those nutrients right down there where the roots can pick it up. It’s much more efficient than dry fertilizer—especially when it’s hot and dry.”
2025 in review
The past season was a mixed bag across much of the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma. Jenny Dudak, cotton specialist, Oklahoma State Extension Service, summed up her area just east of the Texas Panhandle.
“One of the biggest agronomic challenges we faced in 2025 was a wet spring,” she said. “It delayed planting in many parts of the state and forced some replant situations. Despite the wet spring, we had an outstanding year for cotton overall.
“Although a wet spring was a challenge last season,” she said. “We are currently in a moderate to extreme drought in most of our cotton growing regions and could currently use the rain—hopefully before we are trying to get planters into the field.”
The situation was somewhat similar in Texas for King and other nearby Panhandle growers.
“We had a little rain right around May last year,” King said. “We got in there and planted our cotton, saw it coming up, and then some bigger rains came with some hail, and it left the plants a little ragged. Some cotton had to be replanted. In my situation, about a third of my cotton had to be replanted. I kept some of the older, more mature cotton.”
Despite 2025 challenges, the cotton that made it through the weather turned out fairly decent, according to King. “We had growers who made four bales, maybe three bales if it was replanted,” he said. “Bottom line was there was a lot of cotton made on little water—in some cases.”
For 2026, King plans to follow the same strategy he’s been using for years—get the plant up and growing as fast as possible and maximize the benefits of earliness from planting until harvest.
