I never picked cotton...

We have plenty of cotton here in Alabama! I still hear the old timers use the phrase, "walking in high cotton." That's a phrase they use when something is good, because, way back when, if conditions were right, the cotton would grow to six feet tall or more, leading to a prosperous harvest and good profits.

I can't wait to see how high your cotton will be in a controlled environment like a SFG!

Are you going to make your own cotton gin?

The greenhouse is doing great! The seeds are coming up really good, I have some giant tomato plants sprouted, and some new giant carrots different from last years giant carrots, the cotton, cucumbers, zuc, black watermelon and several other things!


I have some different giant carrots for this year, and some special directions on how to get them to grow big! I'm not letting out any of my secrets till I see how I do

But here they are so far...following the special directions....one has sprouted



BOOkemdano, I'm wondering about that cotton and what it will do too! Do you grow that green cotton there in Alabama? IF I get some cotton out of the plants, my mom has me all set up to go and have a lady show me how to spin it.

Looks fantastic Josh! I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous

Lucky duck with a green house and a Greene thumb! Lookin' Good!!!

Very cool Josh, if I wasn't on the other side of the world my mum could show you how to spin it. I don't know that she's ever spun cotton before but she always did wool when I was a kid and once she spun some dog hair for a lady.

camprn wrote:Lucky duck with a green house and a Greene thumb! Lookin' Good!!!

Don't forget the 'green cotton'!

Luck of the Irish to ya!

I never picked cotton either, but my parents did. I never heard ANYONE say they missed picking cotton.

I planted the cotton today. I started the seeds in the greenhouse. There was enough for 24 squares at one per square.

A beautiful cotton field!

GG

You are the man- Josh!

Thanks! Now to wait and see how they grow, I wanna see some of that green cotton or is it Greene cotton...

For those curious about naturally colored cotton, Elann (a yarn co.) has a couple of colors available. http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/product.aspx?catID=&id=127879

The cotton is growing!

All the cotton plants have these on them, so is the cotton going to be in there?

Living in SC, we see cotton fields all the time... I'm pretty certain the cotton puff comes out of that. I think it will open up and have kind of like a marshmallow of cotton.

I do believe the cotton comes on there! It will open on it's own. Cannot wait to see the green cotton!

How many plants did you end up with?



In SC, no one picks cotton anymore. The farmer waits til the cotton opens, then sprays the field with a herbicide. When the plant is dead, he just uses a big rake on his tractor, to rake it up.

Jo

Josh wrote:All the cotton plants have these on them, so is the cotton going to be in there?

That's called a square; the boll will form inside that.

littlejo wrote:
In SC, no one picks cotton anymore. The farmer waits til the cotton opens, then sprays the field with a herbicide. When the plant is dead, he just uses a big rake on his tractor, to rake it up.

Jo

Where's the Hazardous Materials Data Sheet on that method of picking cotton!

I have 24 plants one in each square. I have white cotton, brown cotton, and green cotton.

Yikes! i agree with MSDS on that method Josh. Man, our food industry is bad enough, now our clothing??

I wil try to get a pic of the field in bloom, then get 1 of the field after the herbicide.

It's a shame, but I presume? that it is washed out of the cotton? Maybe at the gin?

That is a lot of cotton, enough to make a t-shirt?

Jo

littlejo wrote:I wil try to get a pic of the field in bloom, then get 1 of the field after the herbicide.

It's a shame, but I presume? that it is washed out of the cotton? Maybe at the gin?

Jo

Don't count on it - washing just to remove the herbicide would add another costly, time-consuming step that is unlikely to be included. Now I know why some products are labeled "organic cotton"! I may just start springing the extra bucks for them!

GG

I suspect that we don't have to worry much about any herbicide residue in our garments.

When cotton is finished being separated at the Gin it is still light tan in color. Bales of this "grey" fiber are sent to mills where most of it is bleached using hydrogen peroxide then very thoroughly washed with water to remove every bit of the bleaching agent.

The remaining unbleached fiber may or may not be washed depending on the final product desired.Much of this unbleached fiber is used commercially in things like insulation and batting.

Once cotton fiber has been bleached, it is usually spun into thread. After that, a large portion of the the thread that will be used in clothing or household goods will be "mercerized". Mercerizing is a process of dipping the thread in a sodium hydroxide bath then an acid bath to strengthen the finished thread, remove fuzz from the outside, and make it glossy ("perle cotton".)

By this point any field herbicide that was originally in the cotton bolls should have been completely washed away by the processing the cotton fiber received.

Organic cotton is not treated with herbicides and is typically not bleached or mercerized. It is usually a little knubby when spun.

I hope this helps.
Gloria

Gloria, You know there are different colors of cotton(Ask Josh) The cotton, in the field in Givans Ferry, SC is very white. Even after they've raked it up and into a big bale to fit on a semi. Maybe the herbicide has a bleaching agent in it?

Jo

Hi Littlejo,

Yes - I'm aware of the different colors of cotton. I believe that Sally Fox of Fox Farms was the first person to introduce colored cottons commercially back in 1989. Those cottons are mostly grown by small producers, processed organically and are not bleached.

I also realize that the cotton bolls on the plant looks very white - I have some in my studio that look really good. However, when they are processed commercially, the machines are indiscriminate in picking. They get the underneath parts of each boll, partially grown bolls, and some plants that have natural color variations (just like veggies). There are also bug stains, dirt stains, etc. on parts of the plant, all of which makes the final fiber a little less white. These differences makes it hard to dye the cotton evenly. Manufacturers count on being able to provide a consistent final product so - they bleach.

I don't know if herbicides have any bleaching affect, but I do know that most of the cotton used in this country for clothing and household items is bleached after picking. If you look in the bath towel, bed linen or dress area of any major store you'll see that colors and bleached white outnumber "organic" or "natural" many times over.