Rotate your cotton crop as needed with other field or vegetable crops to maintain soil productivity and reduce the incidence of various cotton pests such as nematodes, Verticillium wilt, seedling diseases, pink bollworm and other diseases. Different rotational crops impart different benefits to the soil and therefore to subsequent seasons of cotton production:
- Pest resistant crops: suppression of various cotton pests
- Cereals: have fibrous root systems that loosen compacted soil
- Legumes (such as alfalfa, beans): add nitrogen to soil
- Grain corn: adds organic matter to soil
- Vegetable crops: contribute high fertilizer carryover
| Nematodes | Seedling Diseases | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotational Crops | Root-knot nematode | Verticillium wilt | Rhizoctonia and Pythium | Thielaviopsis basicola | Fusarium wilt |
| Small grains and summer fallow | satisfactory | satisfactory | satisfactory | some | some |
| Winter small grains grown as silage | some | some | some | some | some |
| Resistant cowpea cvs. California blackeye CB 46, CB 27, CB 50, and CB 5 |
satisfactory | satisfactory | minimal | some | some |
| Corn | satisfactory | satisfactory | satisfactory | satisfactory | some |
| Sorghum and sudangrass | satisfactory | satisfactory | satisfactory | satisfactory | some |
| Alfalfa | satisfactory | some | satisfactory | some | some |
| Onions and garlic | minimal | satisfactory | minimal | satisfactory | some |
| Clean fallow (weed-free) | some | some | some | some | minimal |
| Root-knot-resistant cultivars of processing tomatoes | some | minimal | minimal | minimal | race 1: satisfactory race 4: some |
| Key to ratings: |
| satisfactory = significant suppressive activity but does not control |
| some = has an inhibitory effect but less than satisfactory |
| minimal = has very little effect |