My wife's family has a cotton farm. Years ago, after growing cotton ornamentally and also having hibiscus in the yard, it dawned on me - these plants are related. Look at the hibiscus & cotton blooms and bolls. Cotton bloom Cotton bolls Hibiscus This year, the farmer decided to grow insullage - a sorghum which is fed to dairy cattle. This is the first time they've grown it and none of us had ever seen a harvesting machine like this before, so we took pictures. My brother-in-law called it a forager harvester. We tease that our daughter is a cotton heiress and we take her picture with her inheritance every year. Here she is in front of the actual cotton grown on her family's farm and you can see the pivot sprinkler stretching off to the North.
Cotton, Hibiscus, Hollyhocks and Okra are all in the same family. I grew organic green cotton a few years ago, had about three dozen plants and loved it. I realize I didn't have to pick it for a living and it was only a few plants but it was a good experience for me. http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/e285-5-s ... otton.html
I have picked and pulled a lots of cotton growing up.My dad was a share cropper and at one time my dad stood up on top of him pickup and counted 75 pickers in the cotton field.He also raised sugar cane and field upon fields of corn.Worked from way before sun up and almost dark daily.I never thought about cotton, hibiscus and okra being in the family.I hope I never have to pick cotton again.
cotton I drove an old Farm-All 20 years ago - no cab, just sitting out in the sun. My best friend's family farmed cotton & he taught me to drive this Farm-All and put me to work in a cotton field (plowing weeds up). He lay down in the bed of a pick up & read a book. Cotton seed is available, but the agricultural seed is usually coated with noxious toxins which you should not touch.
You can get organic seeds for naturally colored cotton here. You will need 150-180 days of hot growing temps to get a good crop. http://www.southernexposure.com/productlist/COTT.html
150-180 hot days I suspect that you could grow cotton in cooler climates by starting it indoors & using a sun lamp. Not too easy on the electric bill, but cotton needs heat, or it won't make cotton.
that was very interesting as we do not grow cotten here and dont think it would be hot enough for long enough here so i will read more about it
I am almost tempted to grow cotton since I love wearing cotton. Alas, I will then have a space problem.
seed I might be able to get my hands on some cotton seed straight out of the fields, but I'll have to check first. If I get it right from the boll, it obviously won't be treated with nasty chemicals. The problem is, a lot of the seed used by the farmers comes from companies, with which the farmer has agreed to return the seed after harvest. I'll have to see, if I will be permitted to collect seed from the plants prior to stripping (stripping is what harvesting cotton is called). When they start stripping the cotton and packing it into modules, I'll take pictures and post them here for y'all to see.
