By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
The cotton crops of Canadian County are looking good overall, and much of it is in excellent condition, a local farmer said.
Keith Kouba said the plants are blooming with white and red flowers at the end of August.
Dry, hot weather has been around for the end of August, but cooler weather is ahead with more rain chances in the first week of September.
Kouba also farms soybean. He has over 600 acres of cotton around Yukon.
Cotton will be harvested in late October or early November. Currently, cotton fetches about 60 cents a pound.
“It is looking pretty good,” Kouba said. “Most of it is in good to excellent condition.”
Oklahoma agriculture reports this summer have listed Oklahoma’s overall cotton crop as mostly in fair condition, including parts of western Oklahoma where rainfall has been less. Drought has continued to be a struggle for some parts of southwest, and western Oklahoma, but locally, only the far southwest corner of Canadian County is considered in abnormally dry condition. The rest of the county has no current drought reported.
The Oklahoma Mesonet site shows Yukon has had 26.66 inches of rain this year with 1.04 inches of rain for August and 12.35 inches of rain over the past 90 days.
Kouba said he has not had too many problems with boll weevils this year, and he has placed traps in places around the crops just in case, but has seen none of the pests.
Statewide, the 2019 cotton crop harvest was 840,000 bales, up 23% compared to 2018, the USDA reported.
Cooler, rainy weather is ahead for the Yukon area. On Saturday there is a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high of 88 degrees. Sunday there is a 30% chance of rain with a high near 93. Monday through Wednesday, there is also a 30% to 40% chance for showers with highs in the upper 80s.
