Within a certain density range, increasing the density can increase production, but exceeding a certain limit will result in reduced production. How to correctly determine the reasonable density of cotton? Generally should consider the following points:
1. Soil conditions. Soil hypertrophy, water retention and fertilizer performance is good, should be properly sparse; soil thin, poor water retention and fertilizer, should be properly close planting.
2. Water and fertilizer conditions. Suitable for sparse planting with high fertilization levels; suitable for planting low fertilization levels. Dryland cotton fields should be planted densely; irrigated fields should be sparsely planted.
3. Variety type. Loose, tall varieties of plants should be sparse; compact plants, plants of shorter varieties should be dense planting.
4. Management level. Extensive management should be sparsely planted; In general, the high-water-fertilizer plots in Hebei Province have planting densities ranging from 1,500 to 2,200 per acre, medium-strength 2,300 to 2,800 plants, and 3,500 to 4,400 thin and dry lands. However, the specific situation of growers should be flexible. In order to ensure the density, the plant spacing should be calculated according to the planned density in advance. The plant spacing can be calculated according to the following formula: plant spacing (m) = acre plan density/row spacing (m). For example, if there is a planned density of 3000 plants per acre in the cotton field, and the average row spacing is 0.7 meters, then the plant spacing is 0.32 meters.