San Joaquin Valley (SJV) cotton growers have a worldwide reputation for producing some of the highest quality cottons including the Acala Upland types (Gossypium hirsutum), and Extra-Long Staple (ELS) Pima types (Gossypium barbadense). The 2006 growing season was the first season in California's history that Pima cotton acreage surpassed combined Upland plantings, since widespread Pima planting was approved in 1991. The spectrum of genetic variation in cultivated cotton varieties is tremendous and greatly influences crop growth and development which in turn has implications in the design of grower management strategies most effective in optimizing resource use. We present multiple years of plant mapping data that allows us to compare crop growth, fruit development and fruit retention characteristics of Pima and Acala cotton types. We contrast the monitoring information of these two plant types and discuss some of the issues that growers face when attempting to optimize management practices of these two plant types.