DD60's for Planting, May 7th
Using the weather forecast from News 14 in Raleigh and the Weather Channel (days 6-10) we have the following DD60's predicted for the coming week.
Monday May 7 - 0 DD60's
Tuesday May 8 - 3 DD60's
Wednesday May 9 - 6 DD60's
Thursday May 10 - 10.5 DD60's
Friday May 11 – 12.5 DD60's
Saturday May 12 – 17.5 DD60's
Sunday May 13 -7.5 - DD60’s
Monday May 14 - 7.5 - DD60’s
Tuesday May 15- 7.5 - DD60's
Wednesday May 16 – 11.5 DD60's
For planting on Monday you would have an estimated 5-day DD60 forecast of 32 DD60's. This is considered good for cotton planting as indicated by the chart below. Are all 5-day DD60 forecasts of 32 DD60's equal? No, I would prefer a 5-day DD60 forecast of 32 DD60's with warmer temperatures in the first two days. Cotton is most sensitive to cold injury the first two days after planting (water imbibition ). Because the first two days are cool and soil temperature right now at Rocky Mount this morning was around 55.4 I would consider planting to be marginal rather than good as indicated on the chart below. As with most rules of thumbs the chart below should be used with some adjustment for such factors. Would I plant today? Yes if I have a lot of cotton to plant I would keep going and make sure the seed I am using has good cool germination (hopefully above 65-70%). If I could finish planting within a relatively short period I would consider resuming planting on Tuesday or Wednesday.
For Tuesday the estimated 5-day DD60 forecast would be 49.5 DD60's. As you can see in the chart below, this is considered good for cotton planting although this is somewhat deceiving as again, the majority of the heat accumulation is in the latter 3 days. As you see above, the estimated 5-day DD60 forecast for planting on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday would be 37.5, 55.5 52.5 and 51.5 DD60's respectively. As you can see planting conditions improve during the next few days if this weather forecast holds up. For the best results one should update these predictions with the most current predictions for you area.
Predicted DD60 accumulation for five days following planting |
Outlook for planting |
< 10 |
Very poor |
11-15 |
Poor |
16-25 |
Marginal |
25-50 |
Good |
>50 |
Very Good |
2007 - Carolina Cotton Notes
