Updates from our network of E&D Agronomists, provide an update of what’s happened and things to consider going forward.
Bourke
Craig McDonald
There is 9,174 hectares of cotton planted in the Bourke Region. Over 90% of this area is Sicot 606B3F based on its performance over the past few years. There have now been five continuous cotton seasons for the Bourke region where cotton has been planted and grown through to picking, a great economic boost for the region!
The Darling River experienced good water flow in December 2024 following widespread rain in Queensland. This has helped to maintain irrigation water supply for this season’s crop at Bourke.
Crop development is good, and crops are at, or post, cut out. Day degrees, 1532 and Base 12 are up on average and there has been 18 days over 40°C since the 1st October 2024. This is right on the long-term average.
Insect pressure has been relatively light but has needed constant vigilance to maintain fruit retention. Fruit retention is running at 80%+ and boll size looks to be good. The use of mepiquat chloride has helped maintain many crops at a manageable height and canopy structure. This will help with plant maturity through to an effective defoliation.
Later in the season we will host a field walk giving you a chance to see how our varieties containing XtendFlex® are performing.
Callide and Dawson Valleys
Kim Stevens
As we are deep into the cotton season in the Dawson/Callide Valley it’s encouraging to see the defoliation process underway, with picking set to begin in mid-February. The fields are now dotted with white cotton, a promising sign of progress. While environmental conditions, including monsoon rains, have the potential to shift quickly, the outlook remains positive for now.
Across the region, many crops are nearing completion, and growers are making key decisions about their harvest strategies. Some fields, where boll numbers are promising, are moving forward with defoliation while others are being pushed on for a little longer to gain additional yield. However, the late-January heatwave (with temperatures soaring above 40°C during the day and dropping to 24°C at night) has had an impact. The extreme conditions have caused some crops to lose top fruit that hadn’t yet matured, highlighting the vulnerability of cotton to rapid weather changes.
In addition to the commercial crops, a dryland trial of varieties containing Xtendflex® was planted in the Dawson Valley in late November. The Try Before You Buy trial includes several varieties: Siokra 253B3XF, Sicot 619B3XF, Sicot 761B3XF and Sicot 714B3F. The trial started off strong, with favourable rainfall through the early stages up until first flower. According to data from CSD moisture probes, plants were already drawing moisture from a depth of 70 cm by the time they reached first flower. At that point, canopy temperature sensors showed no signs of stress, which is a positive indicator. However, we anticipate that if the region experiences a couple of weeks of heat without further rain, the effects of stress may become evident on the sensors, particularly in the dryland trial conditions.
As the season is closing in and crops reach maturity, we plan to host field walks in both the dryland and irrigated Try Before You Buy trial fields, as well as in whole fields planted with varieties containing Xtendflex®. These events will provide growers with a valuable opportunity to observe the varieties in different management systems, environmental conditions and locations. Our goal is to ensure that growers have the chance to learn as much as possible, helping them make informed decisions for future seasons.
Queensland Central Highlands and Isaac
Nick Stewart
Planting wrapped up in CQ with several hundred hectares of dryland cotton being sown following rainfall in December. These crops are quickly approaching first flower thanks to warm weather and storm activity. Most of the early-sown dryland crop, planted in August and September is looking great and having received rain at the right time it is now flowering again after cutting out and is expected to put on more bolls before they shut down.
For the irrigators on the Nogoa-Mackenzie scheme, an extra 14% allocation is a welcome addition to this season. The early sown irrigated cotton is sitting at around 25-28 nodes and is beginning to reset and start flowering again in the second phase.
Humid, overcast, and hot weather (maximums over 35oC) have eroded the crops in the region, continually shedding new fruit. Despite this, total boll counts are high and most are open in the earlier crops. The early-sown Siokra 253B3XF looks exceptional, holding a great amount of large heavy bolls.
Picking on some farms has commenced and decisions around how much of the crop to grow on are being made in response to early yield, water availability and the weather in consideration. Due to the uncertainty of an allocation next season most growers have elected to grow their crops on. The primary objective is to achieve a few more bales/ha, some crops will be grown on for longer than others depending on the desired yield and water. The weather over this period, as well as uncertainty on allocations next season, will determine whether the crop is grown on.
In addition to allocations for next season. There will be opportunities to have a look at the new varieties containing XtendFlex® and engage with knowledgeable speakers at the upcoming field walks. The Arcturus Downs Field Walk will be held on the 12th of Feb and will be an excellent opportunity to speak to growers about their experiences managing the new varieties. Later in the month a field day will be held at Cowal Ag, speakers to discuss Long Season cotton research, variety updates, Nitrogen in CQ work amongst other topics. Furthermore, CSD is planning to host a field day focussing on varieties containing XtendFlex® in Clermont later in the season. More information will be available soon.
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Darling Downs
Larissa Holland
Cotton crops in the Darling Downs continue to hit their strides this season with weather conditions remaining favourable well into January. For many growers rainfall has been consistent, being delivered in the form of frequent storms. There are ‘irrigated’ crops that have yet to be watered and likely at this stage some may only require two waters in the season. Temperature has also been beneficial with night temperatures yet to reach 25oC as of mid-January and fewer than average days above 35oC when looking at the 10-year average for the Downs.
Cotton crops are at various stages of growth, with early plant now at or approaching cut-out with good yield potential. While there are crops planted in December that are yet to flower, with most crops somewhere in between. So far it has been a quiet year for insects with minimal spraying. Early fusarium did crop up and growers may want to keep an eye on how it progresses. There is concern as the season progresses that due to the wet weather crops have set big lateral roots close to the surface when moisture has been abundant and are likely to stress sooner should the rain taper off.
As the season progresses it is likely that early crops will be defoliated and picked starting around late March. It’s also likely that defoliation and picking will continue well into winter. Yield potential at this stage is looking great for both dryland and irrigated crops though hopefully the Downs can avoid the issues with moisture and boll rot that was prevalent at the end of last season. For help with timing defoliations CSD has Last Effective Flower & Frost Analysis under Agronomy tools on csd.net.au.
Overall we’re experiencing a great season which will hopefully continue into boll fill and picking.
Gwydir Valley
Stuart McFadyen
After some early season fruit loss due to sucking pests and overcast conditions, local cotton crops have recovered well as they came into flowering. Retention levels have continued to improve as early season heat dissipated and the summer conditions have become milder. Sunny conditions have allowed the irrigated crops to improve through flowering, and many fields can achieve above average yields from this point if heat waves fail to occur throughout the remainder of the flowering period.
Early planted dryland fields are rapidly cutting out as the rainfall so far this summer has been patchy. Fortunately though much of this area is planted to the rapidly establishing Sicot 619B3XF which performed well last year in a tight finishing season. Later sown fields are approaching flowering now and have significant amounts of stored soil moisture available to them and time to catch a rainfall event.
Macintyre
Colin Lye
Continuing from our last report the Macintyre Valley’s cotton crop has for the most part started to cut out. Subject to planting dates we are about 48 day degrees above our 10-year average.
Since the first seed was watered on the 29 September 2024, there has been no looking back for almost 100% of the crop. Replanting for the most part came back to a storm over a paddock just prior to emergence. Storms have helped carry the crop in most cases to first flower with no waterings required. The Weir River has already run twice now allowing some to top up on farm storages. As to our catchment on the actual MacIntyre there is time. Our dryland crop will need some further assistance from above.
As I regularly visit all 12 of the Try Before You Buy trials of varieties containing XtendFlex®, I am now seeing boll counts break past the 200/m mark. First position retention remains in the high eighties. Heliothis pressure has been low. Mites must not like the balmy conditions experienced to date. A very well run co-ordinated approach to using beneficial insects to keep the Silver Leaf White Fly numbers is playing out. Mepiquat chloride and prudent nitrogen usage with water timings are keeping our crop advisors busy.
A date has been set for the annual Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day, which is the 26 March 2025. I recall attending my very First Field Day here in about 1989. While the faces evolve the energy and passion has not.
Macquarie
Craig McDonald
The Macquarie Valley has 32,239ha of which 1,434ha is dryland. There has been a good uptake of the varieties containing XtendFlex®, being 26.9% of seed sales for the region.
A Red Soils Day was held in the Narromine area on the 8th January and over 50 people attended. The main theme for the day was cover cropping, both to protect young seedling plants from sand blasting, and to help with moisture penetration into the soil profile. There was open discussion and many famers spoke about what did and didn’t work for them. It was a great learning forum for all attendees. The event was part of an ongoing series looking at cropping on red soils which are common in the Macquarie Valley.
The General Security water allocation is at 29% plus carryover for the current water year. Burrendong Dam is 60% and Windamere Dam is 91% of capacity. There have been gradual increases in the amount of water allocated as the season has progressed.
There have been several storm fronts that have passed through the region with high wind speeds, heavy rain and unfortunately some hail. The crops that were affected by hail have been assessed and will be grown out for the season. The amount of damage has varied.
With these ongoing storms and rainfall events, fallow spraying of weeds has been necessary. Some of this herbicide spraying has now been linked to drifting onto cotton fields. Many of these incidents have been followed up by the NSW EPA and samples have been taken for analysis. This continues to be a serious issue, and a strong reminder to be conscious of spray drift when operating.
Crop development has been good with most crops now at, or approaching, cut out. Fruit numbers are solid, and fruit retention has been running at up to 90%. Day degrees, both 1532 and Base 12 are slightly up on the long-term average. Days above 40° C at this stage are behind the average but indications are that will change with high temperatures predicted for late January and throughout February. Insect pressure has been reasonably light.
The Macquarie Cotton Growers Association (MCGA) is running a bus trip to the Grower of the Year Field Day at Dirranbandi on the 5th of March. It will be an overnight trip. Spaces are filling up. The MCGA is hosting a Cotton Industry Golf Day at the Royal Trangie Golf Club on Friday 21st March. These annual golf days are very popular and raise money for local community groups and the three local golf clubs: Warren, Narromine and Trangie. For more information on both of these events contact macquariecottongrowers@gmail.com or visit the MCGA Facebook page.
CSD has a series of trials and Try Before You Buy demonstration sites of varieties containing XtendFlex® across the valley. Field walks will be held later in the season to check these new varieties. More information on these events will be made available soon.
Namoi
Natalie Aquilina
Cotton crops across the Namoi Valley are progressing well, with stages ranging from mid-flowering to cutout. Later-planted fields are at mid-squaring. Rapid flowering has been observed in some areas, with bore irrigation systems under pressure and early cutouts occurring. Dryland crops have benefited from recent rain, but require more to sustain yield potential. While insect pressure remains low, early signs of verticillium wilt and boll cavitation have been noted emphasising the importance of regular crop monitoring for disease and late season insect pressure.
Growers and agronomists are particularly impressed with Sicot 619 B3XF, which continues to deliver reliable performance across the valley. The yet released CSX 1320 B3XF line is also showing significant promise, early notes from CSIRO suggest that this line offers an excellent fibre quality package and demonstrates strong yield potential in past trials. Early boll counts look encouraging, and all eyes will be on its performance at picking. As the season progresses, these varieties and lines performance will provide further insights into their adaptability and yield potential under varying conditions.
In the coming months, the focus will shift to critical end-of-season activities such as cutout timing, last irrigations and defoliation plans. Updated Last Effective Flower (LEF) dates from CSD (combined with prior research from CSIRO) will guide these decisions, helping growers and agronomists align their management practices with optimal conditions for yield and quality. Monitoring soil moisture, irrigation schedules and crop maturity will remain essential to prevent stress during peak boll development.
CSD tools, including the LEF date and frost risk tables, are valuable resources for planning and decision-making. These tools provide actionable insights to maximize productivity and mitigate risks – find them at csd.net.au.
Upcoming events include additional field walks to observe Try Before You Buy variety trials in both irrigated and dryland systems. The CSD Farms Field Day on March 19th will be a highlight, showcasing the season’s results and offering a platform to discuss management strategies. For those unable to attend, please reach out – we’re always happy to facilitate farm visits to view trials throughout the valley and discuss variety outcomes.
Northern Queensland
Kim Stevens
This year’s monsoon in Northern Australia may well be the latest arrival since the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) records began in 1957. FNQ have certainly had to endure the prolonged bushfires and relentless heatwaves due to the delay in the monsoon this season.
Conditions were extremely dry when cotton planting commenced in mid-November in the Flinders region and early December in the Tablelands. Consequently, dryland cotton planting opportunities have been significantly hindered this season due to the lack of rainfall across the Gulf and Flinders regions.
Irrigated cotton planted in the Flinders and Tablelands regions are off to a cracking start, with exceptional germination and emergence. With no early monsoon, crops have powered away and already have exceptional root system development. With all the dry sunny days, growers have also been able to keep on top of their weeds and nutrition management, which is a novelty this time of year generally.
Flinders cotton growth stages vary from seedling cotton to flowering cotton with 20+ nodes. Tablelands cotton growth stages vary from 2-4 true leaf stage to 16 node cotton plants up to 60+cm in height. Flowering is expected in early February for the early December planted crops.
The Burdekin Valley commenced planting in late-January into a reasonable moisture profile following good December-January rains.
Fall Armyworm and Helicoverpa, have been abundant this season in the Tablelands on various crops, but there is still no significant pest pressure of any kind in the Bollgard® 3 cotton at this early stage. Leaf spot diseases in the Tablelands region have not been as abundant early on as they have in past seasons when we have significant rain following planting.
The CSD variety trial planted at Dimbulah is looking good this year. All the CSD varieties containing XtendFlex® established exceptionally well. So far Sicot 619B3XF has the edge on early vigor performance, followed by CSX 1320B3XF.
A monsoon has never failed to develop according to BOM records, and the Far North Qld’s anticipated drenching by early February will once again bring life to creeks and rivers across the region.
Keeping everything crossed, the weather gods play nice this season as the monsoon approaches Northern Australia.
Northern Territory
Angus Marshall
Good build up rains had things looking very promising leading up to the opening of the planting window in the NT, some areas receiving as much as 300mm. Planters started rolling into good moisture across a majority of the growing area. Cotton planted early in December established well, however some later planted cotton fields were a mixed bag. A later than usual monsoon saw a number of dry spells towards the end of December and in early January. Periods of 5-10 days without rain combined with very warm weather resulted in some plant losses, particularly in areas with sandy soils. As a result some fields required replanting.
Key takeaways from this season planting include the importance of rainfall post planting to cool soil temperatures and aid in establishment, regardless of sub soil moisture. As I write this report majority of the cotton area in the NT had received a timely 50mm of rain, so on the back of this most replanted crops should establish well.
This season in the NT there are three Bollgard® 3 varieties containing XtendFlex® trials, two dryland and one under centre pivot irrigation. All have established well with some varieties showing some outstanding early vigour, Sicot 619B3XF and yet to be released CSX 1375B3XF. Looking forward, growers are optimistic for the coming season, with flowering likely to occur later in the month fingers are crossed for sunny days and stormy afternoons.
Western Australian
Angus Marshall
On the back of extended their planting window some growers kicked off plating on the 1st of January this season, taking advantage of a dry spell. Ground preparations were hampered a little leading up to planting as a result of December storm activity, however a dry start to January enabled growers to make up for lost time. Cotton planted early in the window benefited from follow up storms resulting in great establishment across the boards. Some growers are taking advantage of the extended planting window this season and splitting their planting’s up, reducing the risk of prolonged wet periods pushing them late into the planting window.
This season will see the biggest planted area ever on the Ord with an estimated 8000ha expected to go in! 2025 will also see the commissioning and operation of the Kununurra cotton gin, an exciting and significant step forward for the WA cotton industry.
Burnett/Gympie
Chris Barry
The areas have recently had large rainfall events leading to saturated fields and growers unable to carry a ground rig. This has seen the use of aerial insecticides and growth management spray. Due to the wet, humid, cloudy weather there has been some square dropping and cavitation of early bolls. The dryland crops have had a good start to the season with a consistently full profile. Some of the areas that have had flooding water run or sit across the country have potentially lost areas of cotton, but this is only small sections of paddocks. Insect numbers have been steady, the majority of crops have had a mirid spray and are continuing to monitor for a potential second. There are good numbers of beneficial species, particularly lady beetles (adults and larvae), damsel bugs, and spiders. The Try Before You Buy trials of varieties containing XtendFlex® are going well, and it is particularly interesting to see the varieties side by side. Overall, the cotton is traveling well and most crops are flowering, ranging from 8-21 nodes.
Frazer Cost
Chris Barry
The Frazer Coast region has seen consistent rain from the start of planting and continues now. Planting in some paddocks became so wet, that they may be unable to plant this season. Some of the flooded areas have seen the cotton die out. There is a low pest insect pressure there currently and will continue to monitor their number going forward. There will be a lot of late cotton in the Frazer Coast area but with no chance of frost, the growers are going ahead. As this area is a later plant, their crop is smaller in comparison to other regions, ranging from just planted to 15 nodes.
Lockyer Somerset
Chris Barry
Weather in both the Lockyer and Somerset Valley’s has been very warm and humid to date, coupled with some good rain fall. Most of the rain has been storms, so some growers have unfortunately missed out.
Crops in the Somerset and Lockyer valleys range from flowering to cutout. A good boll set formed on the earlier planted crops and likely will be seeing some open bolls in the coming weeks. At the time of writing these crops are at 22-24 nodes. The late planted cotton which went in the ground towards the mid-December is starting to kick along now, with growth at around 12 nodes. The vegetative growth rate has been high, with some growers applying high rates of mepiquat chloride to slow down excessive growth.
Southern NSW
Michael Taylor
Southern NSW has had an excellent start with 1532 day degree temperatures well above the LTA. This happens to be the fourth occasion in the last 10 years where the corresponding period has exceeded 800 day degrees.
December and January have been dry with most centres recording less than 25mm over the two months and the high temperatures have had many crops on a 7-9 day watering cycle and in the absence of a substantial rainfall event this coming month, water use is expected to be higher than last season.
Many crops have progressed rapidly and reached First Flower well before Christmas. Generally speaking, crop development has been 7-10 days ahead of normal. Cut out for all crops had been completed by the end of January and many crops are on track for an April pick.
All varieties, including the varieties containing XtendFlex® have done well and whilst no one variety is standing out, growers are suggesting both Sicot 619B3XF and Sicot 761B3XF show excellent yield potential, these being the most widely planted XtendFlex® varieties.
CSD has several larger scale Try Before You Buy demonstrations of varieties containing XtendFlex® planted and all varieties are doing well. Given the seasonal conditions thus far, and a favourable finish, there is an expectation of high yield potential being possible from all the variety offerings.
Weather will be the critical factor for Southern NSW over the next 2 months and as things stand now, it is highly likely 1532 DD accumulation for the January to March period will exceed 700. This is a reliable indicator for good fibre quality potential.
CSD will be holding a number of events over March and April to show the progress of the varieties containing XtendFlex®. Keep an eye out for invitations.