Growth Hormone and Starter Fertilizer Effects When Combined with Velum Total or Vydate for Root-Knot Population Suppression and Cotton Yield Enhancement

Field trials were conducted in Alabama to test the effects of adding plant hormones, starter fertilizers, and nematicides to Gossypium hirsutum, cultivar Fiber Max 1944 GLB2, in the presence of Meloidogyne incognita. Treatments for the trial included a water control, the nematicides Velum Total or Vydate CLV applied as an in-furrow spray, Ascend (plant growth hormones), Sure-K + Micro 500 (a starter fertilizer blend), and all possible combinations of the nematicides, hormones, and starter fertilizers. At 43 DAP all treatments compared to the water control significantly reduced nematode populations by more than 70%. Overall treatments with Velum Total had a larger reduction of nematode populations as compared to other treatments. The 63 DAP sampling period showed a similar trend with all treatments reducing nematode populations by 20% or greater compared to the untreated control. The treatment with Vydate CLV in-furrow spray with the addition of the starter fertilizer blend significantly reduced nematode populations at the second sampling period at 63 DAP. All other treatments at this sampling period were statistically similar to the control. Yields vary from 4412 to 5500 lbs. per acre, untreated control and the Vydate CLV in-furrow spray respectively. However Velum Total and Vydate CLV applied separately as in-furrow sprays both increased seed cotton yield by an average of 1000 lbs. per acre over the control.