Cotton
(Gossypium spp) grows as a perennial shrub but is typically kept as an
annual. Winter hardy in USDA Zones 8 to 11, cotton requires a long
growing season of 120 to 180 days of completely frost-free weather.
Related to the beautiful hibiscus, cotton produces large, showy flowers
in mid-summer, making it an attractive indoor container specimen. Cotton
plants blossom continually for 3 to 5 weeks, with flowers each lasting
about 2 or 3 days. Brown fruit capsules called bolls develop by late
August as blooms die off. The fluffy seed pods burst open when they're
mature and the cotton is ready for harvest in September.
1. Work the soil to 3-4 inches deep to eliminate weeds.
2. Incorporate compost into the soil to provide nutrients for the cotton plant.
3. After all danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures have warmed up to 60 degrees, its time to plant cotton seeds.
4. Plant cotton seeds in moist soil, in groups of three seeds, 1 inch deep and 6 inches apart.
5. Cotton seeds germinate in 7 to 10 days if soil temperatures are above 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius).
6.
Cotton does not like a lot of water. So water once in about 7 days.
Water more frequently in summer months if leaves show signs of drying.
7.
Feed the cotton plants with a granular or liquid plant fertilizer like a
Rose Food available on the market. Follow the fertilizer dosage
instructions on the label.
8. Large yellow flowers appear in 45 days from sowing. Flowers wither off and form bolls.
9.
Stop watering 16-18 weeks from sowing when bolls have been formed, so
that the plant begins to dry and shed their leaves, and the bolls will
split open to form a fluffy ball