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Cotton Tail Hoods
Equipment Simplifies Preemerge Spray Process For Cotton Farmers
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER
MidAmerica Farmer Grower
MINER, MO.
Cotton Tail Hoods, manufactured by Perkins Sales of Bernie Missouri, may well be the latest rave in spray technologies for use on cotton. Dr. Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee weed scientist, promoted the equipment at a recent farmers’ meeting.
“We’ve been testing a hooded rig that goes onto the back of a cotton planter and it’s designed for using a preemergence application of Dicamba or 2,4-d with these new technologies that are coming on the horizon, the Roundup Extend Cotton and the Enlist cotton where we can put Dicamba or 2,4-d on preplant,” he said. “We’ve been looking at those and really we’ve had good luck using them this first year out.”
The hoods provide good coverage on the soil surface with only one nozzle in them. They’re constructed in a way that prevents drift.
“That’s the thing, when you’re planting you do not need to be concerned about the wind, you can just go out there and plant,” Steckel said. “You can spray safely a preemergence application of Dicamba with the Extend Cotton, or 2,4-d with the Enlist cotton and it’s going to stay put. It’s not going to move even on a very windy day. That’s a big plus.”
Steckel finds that when planting Roundup Extend Cotton, one of the best times to use Dicamba in that system is preemergence.
“You can use at least a pint, or you can even go higher and with that rate you can get some decent residual out of it. You do need to tank mix one of the traditional premixes in with it, like a Cotoran or Caporal; but if you do that you’re going to have a lot more consistent pre than we have today.”
The hoods can be used post in crop, but using it preemerge is a very safe way to apply it as you’re getting out of the gate with planting in the spring, Steckel said.
Cotton Tail Hoods are available at Perkins Sales in Bernie, Missouri and has other various dealers. ∆
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER: Senior Staff Writer, MidAmerica Farmer Grower
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