— 17 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 200 — Spring 2018 At the end of each cotton season growers and advisors are asked to complete a confidential survey for CottonInfo. The survey has been conducted for the last five years, and each season provides valuable trends and reminders on best practice. MOST growers experienced a reasonable start to the 2017–18 season, i.e. during late September and the first two weeks of October. In the southern growing region, cold shocks (temperatures less than 11 °C) were below average for the year (Figure 1) and hot shocks (temperatures above 35 °C) were well above average (Figure 2). Some large storms in late November and early December impacted crops in some regions and early season Alternaria leaf spot set some crops back. It was a very dry and warm finish to the season, which helped ripen crops and provided excellent picking conditions. Figure 1. Minimum temperatures were below average throughout the 2017–18 season, and there were almost no cold shocks, compared with average, particularly at the start of the season. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Early Mid Late E M L E M L E M L E M L E M L E M L Oct Oct Oct Nov Nov Nov Dec Dec Dec Jan Jan Jan Feb Feb Feb Mar Mar Mar Apr Apr Apr Cumulative no. of days Average 2017/18 Most growers experienced a reasonable start to the 2017–18 season, with cold shocks below average. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Late E M L E M L E M L E M L E M L E M L Oct Nov Nov Nov Dec Dec Dec Jan Jan Jan Feb Feb Feb Mar Mar Mar Apr Apr Apr Cumulative no. of days Average 2016/17 Figure 2. Maximum temperatures were above average throughout most of the 2017–18 season, and there was a large increase in hot shocks, compared with average, from February onwards. — 17 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 200 — Spring 2018 Cotton survey results