To: County Agents and County Secretaries

A request was made to the Soil, Plant, and Water Lab at UGA to consider revising the existing 10-sample cotton petiole testing program to a simpler one, say 3-4 sampling periods. The current cotton petiole testing program had only seven kits sold in 2010 whereas many years ago at its peak, there were 700 kits used during the season. As you know, the full petiole testing program requires petiole sampling for ten consecutive weeks beginning one week before first bloom. The process was tedious and handling the large amount of additional data could be challenging to some growers. When we had more cotton scouts who could collect this data, collection of the data was possible, but today it is more difficult.

In order to develop a simpler cotton testing program, Glen Harris and I asked Ken Lewis and Phil Torrance to help us select a committee to develop a simpler cotton testing program with fewer sampling times and with less required information from the grower. Six County Agents (Chuck Ellis, Rad Yager, Wes Harris, Mark Crosby, Brian Cresswell, and Eddie McGriff) worked with Glen, Leticia Sonon, Rick Hitchcock, and me to develop this simplified program. The results from our discussions are two greatly simplified testing programs. Both start with a cotton leaf sample at first square. Since turn around time is critical, we will provide UPS overnight shipping labels for the samples as part of the test package. The lab can provide test results within three work days after receiving the samples. Results will be emailed to the farmer (if they desire) with a copy to the county office.

Test Option # 1 – Three samples submitted for analysis:
1. leaf sample at first square
2. petiole sample at first bloom
3. petiole sample at first bloom + two weeks.

The total cost of the analysis plus shipping labels and sample envelopes will be $55.

Test Option # 2 – Four samples submitted for analysis:
1. leaf sample at first square
2. petiole sample at first bloom
3. petiole sample at first bloom + two weeks
4. final petiole sample at first bloom + four weeks.

The total cost of the analysis plus shipping labels and sample envelopes will be $70.

How this will work.

The cotton producer will come to the county extension office at least 10 days before the first sampling time and request test kits either for test option #1 or test option #2. The producer will provide information to the county secretary about the field or fields (producers name, address, and field identification) that the secretary will submit on-line to the Soil, Plant, and Water Laboratory. At this time, the county office will also collect money from the grower for the test option ($55 or $70) selected. The petiole fees will be included in the monthly invoice that the Extension office normally receives from the lab.

The Laboratory will receive the grower information submitted on-line and immediately send the kit(s) directly to the grower by US Postal Service. The kit contains UPS Express Envelopes with shipping labels, and sample envelopes for each sampling time. The sample envelopes will already have a label with the farmer’s name, field ID, and the sampling period. There will be a space for entering the sampling date. Lab results and recommendations will be sent back to the farmer by email, fax, or regular mail with copy to the county office. This process will expedite information transfer back to the farmer while also keeping the county agent informed.

David E. Kissel
Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories
University of Georgia
dkissel@uga.edu
706-542-5350