Cotton stalk deadline is Nov. 12 this year

Cotton growers in eastern Wharton County have been granted an extension for cotton stalk destruction by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

The new deadline for 2007 is Nov. 12, and was extended because of weather.

The extension applies only to that part of Wharton County east of the Colorado River.

Deadlines for cotton stalk destruction are established by regulations adopted under the Cotton Pest Control Law to help control boll weevils. After the deadline, cotton stalks are not allowed to have squares, blooms or uncracked bolls and must remain without fruiting structures until emergence of the new cotton crop next spring, although planting can begin Feb. 1, 2008.

For more information, contact the Texas Department of Agriculture Gulf Coast Regional office at (713) 921-8200.