Has anyone ever grown cotton in their home garden? I've just ordered seeds for 3 different coloured cotton so would like some growing tips form anyone with experience. I am after the bolls as I'm a spinner and thought it might be interesting to try to grow my own cotton so I'm after the flowers followed by the bolls.
I had thought that feeding with 'flower and fruit' fertiliser might be appropriate once I get them growing.
As I recall from studying cotton in elementary school more than 60 years ago, cotton plants require a lot of water and some fertilizer. However, the bolls are damaged if the plant gets rain as the bolls are ripening.
A friend grew some in her home yard just this past summer and got enough to spin a bit. You need way bigger than a backyard crop to get serious with it, though.
Well that sounds positive. It's good to know that it is possible to grow enough to have a play with it. Next time you talk to your friend could you see if she has any particular cultivation tips please and report back?
Yes, I do knit, but I wasn't thinking of knitting any cotton. Years ago, I knitted one short sleeved top and as you say, it was heavy and too hot for our summers. I was thinking that I might include any cotton I can manage to produce into some weaving project or other.
First I have to actually grow it and the seeds haven't even arrived yet
- hopefully that should be tomorrow or the next day.
Certainly here in the US cotton was grown under such conditions (its commercial heyday is long gone here) .
Granted, these requirements are mainly for commercial plantings, but a quick Google shows what you see blow...Odd, the list below mentions "dry conditions," but when cotton was king in the south before the Civil war, I assure you, nothing was dry about the climate down there....Mississippi River delta provided the water and the shipping lanes..
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Cotton is grown between latitudes of 37° north and 30° south in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions and on every continent.
Ideal conditions for the cotton plant are:
Long vegetation periods (175 to 225 days) without frost. Constant temperatures between 18 and 30°. Ample sunshine and fairly dry conditions. A minimum of 500 mm of water between germination and boll formation. Deep, well-drained soils with a good nutrient content.
Nah, it's not 'Oh Susannah' - it's a modern song. I keep wondering if it's Steely Dan or some group like that -it's got a very nasal 'Alabam' repeat refrain in it. Not 'Alabama', but 'Alabam'.
Drat, it'd disappeared overnight but now I've got it running round in my head again!
Nope, that's not it either - good and closer to the right age of the song but it's still not it.
I'm going to have to go and look at the LP collection and then check out the CDs or the old cassettes..................... This is going to drive me nuts till I find it.
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