Choosing the best seed for your farm is paramount as you continually seek to improve your operation. PhytoGen® cottonseed can help you get more from your cotton acres.
You can’t move forward by standing still. To achieve your goals, you push for more season after season.
Choosing the best seed for your farm is paramount as you continually seek to improve your operation. PhytoGen® cottonseed can help you get more from your cotton acres because, like you, we never settle for the status quo — in breeding, product development and service. Consider these four reasons why PhytoGen cottonseed is the right choice if you demand more from your varieties.
Yield is the endgame, and PhytoGen brand varieties have proven results in third-party trials. In recent years, we’ve won numerous Official Variety Trials and on-farm trials across the Cotton Belt from California to Texas and into the Midsouth and Southeast. One reason for these high yields is a diverse portfolio that delivers the right varieties for your growing conditions. We have some of the earliest and latest maturities available, as well as a full portfolio of proven midmaturing varieties.
Customers tell us they want consistent performers they can count on, and that’s where PhytoGen brand varieties stand out. Yield stability helps you plan for future seasons — the good years and the challenging ones. Customers keep coming back to popular varieties, such as PhytoGen brand PHY 400 W3FE, PHY 411 W3FE and PHY 415 W3FE, that consistently help them maximize yield potential.
“Cotton producers need varieties they can count on in differing seasons and wide-ranging conditions because no two years are the same,” said Joel Faircloth, Ph.D., PhytoGen portfolio manager. “Our extensive portfolio gives producers the ability to plant the right variety in the right field — and that helps promote more consistent yields each season.”
Ask any customer the first thing that stands out to them about PhytoGen cottonseed, and you’re going to hear about our industry-leading early season vigor. It’s a difference you can see when you open the bag or bulk box — our varieties have big seed with excellent germ ratings.
Why is that important? A strong start to your crop is essential to hit critical planting windows the first time. Replants cost fuel, time and lost opportunities. Missing heat units could impact final yield. Early season vigor means cotton emerges and grows more quickly to establish healthy stands. Plus, many producers have found they can establish stands with lower seeding rates, potentially reducing inputs and improving profitability.
“With PhytoGen cottonseed, you’ll notice a significant advantage in early season vigor compared with many competitive cotton varieties with smaller seed and less vigor,” Faircloth said. “We’ve repeatedly heard stories from growers who made good stands the first time with PhytoGen but had to replant competitive varieties.”
You don’t have to settle for hard-to-control weeds scattered across your fields. When you plant PhytoGen W3FE varieties, the Enlist® weed control system brings better and easier weed management to your farm.
With the Enlist system, you get more choices combined with excellent control. For example, Enlist One® herbicide offers more than 2,200 qualified tank-mix partners, including Liberty® herbicide, so you can get better weed control with fewer trips through the field. Likewise, the absence of calendar cutoff dates gives you freedom to spray at the optimum time for your operation.
The Enlist system is the perfect fit for cotton acres because it has compatibility with common Cotton Belt crops, such as soybeans and peanuts. Enlist E3® soybeans are a particularly good fit with PhytoGen W3FE varieties, because Enlist herbicides can be sprayed over both. Likewise, peanuts have inherent tolerance to 2,4-Db. Because peanuts and PhytoGen W3FE varieties both use 2,4-D-based herbicides, you can streamline management across crops.
PhytoGen Product Agronomist Russell Nuti, Ph.D., says this combination helps save time and gives you better peace of mind.
“Farming PhytoGen W3FE varieties and peanuts together makes life simpler on the farm,” Nuti said. “First, you solve the age-old problem of 2,4-Db herbicide drift on cotton because PhytoGen W3FE varieties can metabolize 2,4-Db. Second, peanuts are not listed as a susceptible crop with the Enlist system, allowing growers to spray Enlist One herbicide row to row without concern of wind direction when PhytoGen W3FE neighbor their peanuts..”
Seasonal challenges can make managing cotton acres difficult. Bacterial blight made waves in the Midsouth and Southeast during past seasons. The disease can wreak havoc on fields, negatively impacting quality and yield. Fortunately, every PhytoGen W3FE variety comes with built-in resistance to bacterial blight so your cotton is protected every season.
Similarly, most of our newest varieties offer genetic resistance to reniform and root-knot nematodes. This built-in protection comes in our highest-yielding varieties, so you don’t have to choose between yield and nematode resistance. You can plant these varieties on fields with or without nematode problems to simplify management. These traits provide easier management and protect yield potential.
“PhytoGen Breeding Traits, especially resistance to root-knot and reniform nematodes, help producers take a giant leap forward in yield potential in fields where these pests have historically been a problem,” Nuti said. “But they also protect against the proliferation and spread of these pests and diseases, which improves yield potential for years to come.”
Find information on yield and more in the PhytoGen Cottonseed Agronomy Library.