How to Grow Cotton From a Seed

Growing cotton requires warm temperatures. To germinate seeds, you need the temperature to be at least 60 degrees F. For the plants to grow, you'll need a temperature range of between 70 degrees F and 80 degrees F. And when the cotton blooms, the temperature should be 80 degrees F to 90 degrees F. Along with warm temperatures, you also need to have soil that not only holds water but also drains well. Ideal soils for growing cotton tend to be red sand loam along with black and alluvial soils.

Cotton seeds
Fertilized soil
Water

Instructions

- 1
  Clear the ground where you will be planting the cotton, making sure it is free of any debris before fertilizing the soil with manure or compost. Once you are done, rake the soil so that it is level.
- 2
  Dig into the ground 6 to 8 inches in preparation for planting the seeds. Your rows should be 1 to 1.5 feet wide and be somewhere around 2 feet apart. Make a little furrow about 1 inch deep in the middle of each of the rows. To help you make straight rows, you can fasten a piece of string that is as long as your row to a couple of sticks to mark the line for you.
- 3
  Place a couple of cotton seeds about 4 inches apart in the furrow you have dug. Then cover them with the soil you previously dug up.
- 4
  Wait a few weeks until the seeds sprout before watering your cotton seedlings. Then you will need to water them every week. You will also have to fertilize your cotton plants every couple of weeks with a fertilizer that has lots of potassium and nitrogen.
- 5
  Stop watering your cotton plants when they bloom (after about 16 weeks) so that you give the plants a chance to dry and lose their leaves. In general, you can start picking your cotton when the bolls open and the fibers are dry and fluffy, a process that can take anywhere from four to seven months.

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