Such as... when is it planted, and how long into the growing season is it until you know whether you will get a good crop or not?

Wondering when we will start to get solid information about the 2011 cotton supply.

My grandmother grew cotton and it grows here in Tennessee. All I know is it's harvested in the fall. And needs lots of water.

I know they bale it in October--even into November in the bootheel of Missouri. The whole area looks like a giant pillow fight has just occurred for weeks. They take the big bales to a shipping facility but I don't know what happens after that.

The land is all irrigated down there but they grow rice in the really wet parts. The cotton fields are only wet in the spring and summer rains will drown it out.

I'm not even sure what they use Missouri cotton for.

i dont know if it is true but i heard that not much US cotton is used for quilting fabric, Does anybody know if that is true and if it is where is the cotton use for our fabric come from?

For a good inticator watch the futures market on cotton. There is a drop showing for the end of the year .. still higher than last years price .. note the drop as the growing season progresses in the Northern Hemisphere

There was a slight down tick in the futures market but that is not uncommon after a record high , and some cash out their profits.

http://news.tradingcharts.com/future...es/Cotton.html

http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/cont...tml?r=NYBOT_CT

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agri...ts/cotton.html

The best overall outlook report
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/...es-surge-over-$2-on-tight-supplies-36562-3-1.html

My best guess is that we at least one full year from any reduction hitting the retail cycle. and the worst is not yet been realized in the full chain. The real question is did the manufactures buy futures and at what price?

I think most of the cotton used in fabrics is from China, India and Australia. Since Australia is in it's harvest season, maybe we will get news about that.

A lot of cotton is grown around here; they pretty much know before they plant whether they are going to have good crops, based on how much rain we've had, because it is dryland farming down here. But then, if we get too much rain after they've planted, it can ruin their crops, or make the fields too muddy to harvest.
The usually are finished harvesting by mid-summer; then it all goes to the gins, and from there, who knows?

All depends on where you live as to weather cotton can grow.

Cotton is grown in 17 states stretching across the southern half of the United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Texas grows the most cotton in the U.S. however China grows more cotton than any other country.

Planting begins as early as Feb. 1 in South Texas and as late as June 1 in northern areas of the Cotton Belt.

I do know there have been times when the government will pay farmers not to plant a certain year. We have farmers here in Georgia who have been paid by the federal government not to grow tobacco or cotton some years.

There are cotton fields all over S Arkansas going into Miss. and La. When the cotton is harvested the fields are still dotted with bolls. If you ask the farmer's permission you can collect a bag full. After separating the bolls and washing the cotton it makes really nice stuffing. The fields here last year seemed as good a crop as ever. I don't know where this local grown cotton goes to.

I grew up in the south, but I never picked cotton.LOL