How to grow cotton plants.

See info. on this page of the Cotton Acres website.

Also Thunder acres website. (Banner image from Thunder Acres.)

Cotton plant is a shrubby perennial that is mostly grown as an annual as it cannot withstand frost.

The cotton plant belongs to the genus Gossypium of the family Malvaceae (mallow family); the same family as hollyhock, okra and hibiscus. There are different species of Cotton – Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium herbaceum and Gossypium arboreum, the first two species being the most commonly cultivated. (I don’t know the species of the plants I put out on the farm table.)

It needs full sun.

Cotton does not like too much water. Water the seedling and mature cotton plants two or three times per week to soak the soil around the roots, allowing the top layer of potting mixture to dry slightly between waterings.

Feed the cotton plants once each week with a liquid plant fertilizer that’s high in Potash (Potassium) or use tomato food or rose food.

Large yellow flowers appear within 45 days from sowing. Flowers wither off and form bolls which crack open to form fluffy cotton in about 130-150 days from sowing.

You will need to grow it in a pot to bring it to maturity in our climate.