Pushing yields higher through soil health and variety selection
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Producer Dobbins Cosby has a favorite saying about raising cotton and peanuts: “The two most-overlooked letters in farming are pH.”
Dobbins Cosby (left), pictured with his dad Ben, produces excellent dryland yields by planting PhytoGen® brand varieties and paying close attention to soil health and fertility.
Fertilizer and soil health are focus areas on his mostly dryland operation in central Alabama, where he’s digging in the dirt — literally — to find ways to grow more lint per acre.
“I am big on soil sampling, because if your pH isn’t right, you’re just a hamster on a wheel trying to catch up all year long,” Cosby said. “I sample our soils in the fall and then put out chicken litter, which makes a big difference for our soils. You can leave a lot of yield on the table without the right fertilizer and micronutrients.”
But soil pH isn’t the only “ph” that drives Cosby’s yields. He plants PhytoGen® cottonseed for its early season vigor and consistent yield potential across his tough dryland acres.
“Why do I plant PhytoGen? It’s a good product with good support,” Cosby said. “I like that it will come up, I know how to manage it, and I have high yields — so I’m not going to change.”
In 2024, he planted a majority of his acres to PhytoGen® brand PHY 411 W3FE and averaged a top-end yield for a tough year.
“The last rain we got was late July, but the PhytoGen varieties set the crop and held on through harvest,” Cosby said. “The county average was about 800 pounds, and PHY 411 W3FE yielded 1,025 pounds per acre. PhytoGen cotton will make good in a bad year, and it will make even better in a good year.”
In years with adequate rain, he’s had fields average over 3 bales, with a field planted to PHY 400 W3FE averaging 1,640 lb./A – his best dryland yield to date. This season, Cosby has his eye on PHY 475 W3FE, which “looks fantastic and is a little more aggressive.”
Fewer weeds, less seed
Consistent yield performance drives his variety decisions, but, Cosby said, PhytoGen offers several unique benefits that he can’t get from any other cottonseed brand. He relies on the Enlist® weed control system to keep fields clean and says it’s a better fit with his peanut acres.
“The Enlist system works well. I spray Enlist One at least once for pigweed, and it does a great job controlling weeds, especially pigweed,” Cosby said. “We spray Enlist One in our cotton — 2,4-Db on our peanuts — and I don’t have to use dicamba. I don’t want to do that, because dicamba crushes peanuts.”
Although the Enlist system makes weed management easier during the season, Cosby said, PhytoGen® brand varieties save him replants and input costs at planting. Because of the reliable early-season vigor of PhytoGen cottonseed, Cosby plants about 27,000 seeds per acre, approximately 20% less than what’s typical for his area.
“With the vigor of PhytoGen cottonseed, you can plant less seed per acre — that’s savings up front,” Cosby said. “PhytoGen varieties come up. We had a really bad start with weather this year, and I didn’t have to replant any PhytoGen.”
For Cosby, everything comes down to a simple bottom line: “I won’t plant anything but PhytoGen, because I don’t want to replant and I don’t want to worry about what’s going in my sprayer. They have good people, good varieties, and good yields.”
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AGRONOMY
Find information on nematode management and more in the PhytoGen Cottonseed Agronomy Library.