Cotton seed availability: fewer choices every day

Scott Brown, Extension Coordinator in Colquitt County, Georgia, sent out a couple of advisories today regarding cotton seed availability. He sees several points of concern. Some people may think they'll get DP 555 but won't. Others who have not booked seed yet will find that some varieties already may be out of stock and others are dwindling fast.

Here's his report:

There appear to be a number of producers thinking that they have DP 555BR seed allocated to them for planting who have no idea how much they are going to get.

If arrangements were not made for 2010, use of BR cotton seeds prior to the September 30 deadline then there is no longer an option for getting them.

All producers who made arrangements for their BR seed before the September 30 deadline have been billed by Monsanto for this seed. Thus, if you have DP 555BR seed reserved for you then you should have already been billed for it at $25/bag, so you should know how many bags you will receive.

Unless you worked out some kind of deferred payment with your supplier and they received the bill for you, if you haven’t been billed for any DP 555 then there is a high likelihood that you do not have any allocated to you. I suggest that you ask the supplier you made arrangements with in September about your BR seed allocation for the details on these seed as soon as possible.

Further regarding cotton seed...

It was going to be pick-and-choose on a field-by-field basis in terms of cotton seed this year year, but it now appears that it will be choose-and-choose-again on a field-by field-basis.

Over the past few days, we have heard some disturbing revelations on the availability of seed for certain cotton varieties. There are reported to be shortages, placement or allocation issues with the following:

• FiberMax 1740B2RF

• Phytogen 370WR

We knew that the Class of 2010 form DPL would be limited, but now it appears that:

• DP 1050B2RF will be very limited

• DP 1048B2RF will be less limited than 1050 but more limited than previously thought.

• DP 1034B2RF limited amount located here an additional limited amount should be available though order.

Phytogen 565WRF is already in the hands of distributors and, for the most part, what they have is all there is.

So, stop what you're doing, make your cotton variety selection on a field-by-field basis and then site down with your dealer as soon as possible.

We no longer live in the 555 world of one size fits all.