In mid-August, the Hebei Regional Monitoring Station of the National Cotton Market Monitoring System conducted a survey on cotton growth conditions in various regions. The specific situation is as follows:
Hengshui: Cotton growth indicators this year are generally worse than the same period last year, and the yield is expected to decrease by more than 10% year-on-year. At present, the growth of cotton is average, with an average of 8.2 fruit branches/plant, 7.3 buds/plant, and an average of 12.3 bolls/plant. A local cotton farmer said that if there is no bad weather in the later period, the local seed cotton yield is expected to be 420-450 catties/mu, a decrease of 10.05% from the previous year.
In addition, due to the continuous rainfall during the main flood season and the high temperature and high humidity weather conditions in the rain, some low-lying cotton fields have accumulated water and the peaches (bottom peaches) have turned black and moldy, and the young bolls have fallen off and the flower buds have fallen off. However, there are only a few peach trees on the ground that are cracking their bells and spitting out catkins. There is a local saying that “new flowers appear on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month”. It is expected that the sporadic picking of seed cotton this year will be delayed by about 7-10 days compared with normal years.
It is understood that local cotton diseases and insect pests this year are lower than the same period last year. At present, the main work of cotton farmers is to prepare leaves and trim branches to improve the ventilation of cotton trees. Regarding the purchase price of new cotton, the expected psychological price of seed cotton sold by local cotton farmers is generally 4.0-4.2 yuan/jin.
Tangshan: On August 14, the local area experienced rainfall. The rainfall lasted for about a day. After the rainfall, the weather was fine and cotton growth accelerated. So far, local cotton plants have produced an average of 8-12 bolls per plant, and their growth is better than the same period last year.
Analyzing the main reasons, firstly, the weather conditions this year are better than last year, and the shedding rate of bells is reduced; secondly, cotton diseases and insect pests are less severe this year; thirdly, there are fewer rotten peaches at the bottom of the cotton plant this year. To sum up, this year’s cotton yield is expected to be better than last year.
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