Cotton is planted in the spring. Cotton planting starts when the soils have warmed up enough and it is past the last possible date of frost. In most areas of the cotton belt, cotton is usually planted between April 15th and the end of May. Cotton planting can start earlier than this in the very southern part of the cotton belt (i.e. the Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Bend regions of Texas). Cotton planting is sometimes delayed into June due to inclement weather. This can be risky, especially in the northern parts of the cotton belt.

Cotton is usually planted from 0.5 to 1.5 inches deep, hopefully into moisture. It is risky to plant cotton deeper than this because cotton is not particularly strong emerging from the ground. Cotton should be planted closer to the 0.5 inch of this range if planting on soils that tend to crust. Crusting is often a problem on sandier Coastal Plain soils. Old-timers will tell you that you should plant shallow enough in these soils that you will see a few seed on top of the ground.

Cotton has traditionally been planted in 36 to 40 inch wide rows. This width was chosen at first due to the size of a mule. Until recently row widths have been in that same range due to restrictions on how close the heads of a cotton picker could be arranged. There have been some new innovations that have allowed cotton growers the opportunity to use more narrow row widths. Although there are some considerations that may not make conversion to more narrow row widths economical for some growers, the job of a cotton farmer is to harvest sunlight and let the plant turn it into lint and seed. It makes sense, that in narrow rows, one could harvest more sunlight more quickly.

Information on cotton planting from Cotton Physiology Today, published by the National Cotton Council:Cotton Planting and Replanting Decisions