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The 1998 cotton season has been wild in California's Fresno County. There was so much rain that for a while it looked like there wouldn't be a crop at all (quite the opposite of Texas cotton - there's been a drought there this season). Finally the governor signed a bill to allow a special cotton variety to be grown (which has a shorter growing season). At the very end of April farmers were just starting to plant (about 4 weeks late). Below are some photos of the cotton at the end of May.

Here are some more cotton pictures from July 7, 1998. The crop is now being cultivated, weeded, thinned, irrigated and treated to control lygus.

 

Before harvest begins, the field must be defoliated.  This kills the plant, leaving the cotton bolls ready to be picked.

Below are several types of cotton picker, from a two row picker to a five row picker.   The newest ones out can harvest 6 rows at a time!

 A cotton picker dumps its cotton in the red module to for storage until it is ginned.

The gins started to receive cotton on about Oct. 16, 1998 (about 1 month late).

Modules of cotton waiting to be ginned.

Here's a module of cotton on its way to be ginned.

After the cotton is ginned it is packaged into bales and sent to a warehouse.  Samples are cut from each bale and sent to the USDA, cotton merchants, brokers, or mills for classing  and/or inspection .  

The mills spin the cotton into thread.  Cotton can be used to make clothes, rugs, and all sorts of stuff. 

Q: How many denim jeans do you think can be made from one bale of cotton?  Discover the Answer!

All pictures � Lisa Goodell, all rights reserved.

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Q: Does cotton come from a tree?