Why is cotton unique and how to grow it at home?

“This amazing shrub grows in India. From large fruits resembling a nut, a small lamb with white wool appears, which is later used to make fine fabrics, ”- this is how a famous English traveler described a cotton plant in the 16th century that struck him to the core. And to prove his words, he demonstrated a dress made of the finest calico, passing it through a ring. Much time has passed since then, but today we actively use the valuable properties of this plant, practically without knowing anything about it. It's time to open the veil of secrecy and get to know this extraordinary miracle of nature.

What is cotton?

India is considered the homeland of the plant, although today it is grown in many countries of the world, including China, the USA, Brazil, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Tajikistan. Cotton, or, as it is called in Latin, Gossypium, is most often a biennial herb of the Malvov family. Referring to herbs, it looks very much like a shrub.

• Its height reaches 1.5–2 meters.
• The root system, which is a rod type, penetrates to a depth of 3 meters.
• The stem is branched, slightly pubescent or glabrous, with a variety of shades: from green to red-violet. Sometimes a brownish color appears only on the side facing the sun, therefore it is called a tan.
• The leaf is very similar in shape to grape. Consists of a green or reddish plate, whole or divided into lobes, a rounded petiole and two protruding stipules at the base. As the fruits ripen, the leaves fall off, which greatly facilitates the harvesting of the crop.

Cotton flowers deserve special attention. They are solitary, rather large, formed from five wide petals bordered by green sepals. Barely blossoming, they acquire a white or yellowish-cream color. After ripening and pollination, they become pink, burgundy or purple. Such beauty made the shrub a welcome guest on garden plots and home windowsills.

How does cotton fiber appear?

Most plant species are bred exclusively for cotton fiber. Observing the process of the formation of this valuable material, you are once again convinced how wise and harmonious nature is.

1. In place of the flower, a fruit is formed, which is called a seed capsule in cotton. Each such capsule is divided into 3-5 nests, each of which contains up to 11 seeds.
2. Fiber formation begins even before the flower is pollinated. If you examine the embryos of seeds under a microscope, you can see the smallest sprouts on their surface.
3. After pollination, active growth of fibers begins, which lasts 20 days, until the seeds are fully ripe.
4. At the same time, the box increases. Sometimes it reaches the size of a large nut or chicken egg. Over time, its walls dry out, turn brown and crack.
5. The enlarged fibers push the walls of the fruit apart, and a lush white foam comes out. In the wild, it is needed to spread seeds: air fluff is easily carried by the wind or animals.

It's harvest time for cultivated plants. Most often, special machines are used for this purpose. At the front, they are equipped with a special mechanism that removes the fruits and separates their shell. At the back there is a reservoir for the harvested cotton mass.This type of gathering is very productive - 800 kg of cotton fibers per hour. But many people prefer to harvest by hand - this way the quality of the fiber becomes higher due to the fact that the remnants of the fruit shell are excluded from it. Interestingly, the boxes ripen unevenly, so the harvest is harvested in several stages.

Advice

When harvesting, you need to ensure that the seeds are dry, otherwise there is a risk of rotting.

Plant species

There are about 50 types of cotton in nature, differing in appearance, properties, fiber quality and color, as well as requirements for living conditions. Of all this variety, only 4 varieties are used for cultivation.

1. Common cotton - the most common variety with a relatively high (up to 2 m) stem and short fiber. White flowers turn pink when exposed to the sun. Differs in resistance to diseases and high productivity. It is he who is the raw material for 80% of the cotton fiber produced in the world.
2. Herbaceous cotton plant - due to its hardiness and short stature (the stems barely reach one and a half meters in height), this plant can be cultivated even in regions with a temperate climate. A distinctive feature is a yellow flower with a red spot inside, in the place of which a small and round fruit box appears. The fiber of this plant is white, the shortest and coarse to the touch.
3. Treelike cotton plant Is a perennial plant that can only be found in the tropical zone. This is the tallest member of the family, sometimes reaching 6 meters in height. Red flowers conquer with their splendor. The highest quality fiber can be recognized by its distinctive yellow tint.
4. Peruvian cotton, Barbados or Egyptian - the most valuable species, which is famous for its strong and long, up to 44 mm, fiber. It grows mainly in coastal areas.

Breeders are working tirelessly, bringing out more and more improved varieties of cotton. Recent achievements include cotton with colored fibers in yellow, green, orange, brownish and lilac shades. During further processing, such raw materials no longer require coloring, and products from it do not fade and do not fade in the sun.

Advice

Low herb varieties with large bright flowers are more suitable for growing cotton at home.

The benefits of cotton

Chintz, satin, calico, cambric, denim - what kind of fabrics are not made from cotton fiber. Natural, lightweight, breathable, comfortable and pleasant to the touch, they have been leading in popularity around the world for centuries. But this is not all that an unpredictable bush gives a person.

• Cotton seeds are a great source of vegetable oil, which is used for food, as well as raw materials for technical needs, candle making and soap.
• Husk and cake are used as livestock feed and are considered an excellent source of vegetable protein.
• Lint - the fluff that remains on the seed - is used as stuffing for pillows and mattresses.
• The pulp, which is part of the down-pad, is a raw material for the manufacture of paper, plastic, photographic film, felt and artificial leather.

Due to its unique composition, cotton is widely known in traditional and folk medicine as an excellent aseptic, antiviral, antipyretic, hemostatic and astringent agent that helps with atherosclerosis, hypertension and diseases of the nervous system. Extracts, infusions and oils are often used in cosmetology as an anti-aging, tonic and anti-inflammatory agent.

Important!

When using cottonseed oil, remember that it contains the specific pigment gossypol, which is a toxic phenol compound that provokes reproductive disorders and metabolic processes in the body.

How to grow cotton at home?

This wonderful plant needs climatic conditions of the tropics or subtropics to grow. Therefore, flower growers who live in other latitudes have no choice but to grow an outlandish shrub in a pot on their windowsill. How does this process go?

1. Cotton is usually planted in early spring.
2. First, the seeds are prepared - for this they are cleaned of the underfill and put on a wet cloth.
3. The first shoots hatch approximately in a week.
4. It is time to place the seedlings in a flower pot, which should be deep enough not to inhibit root development.
5. Fertile soil is poured there with the addition of lumps of sand and clay and fertilized with humus.
6. The pot is covered with foil, but airing is regularly arranged.
7. After about a week, the first sprouts appear, similar to a butterfly.
8. When 2-3 leaves are formed on the stem, young bushes are planted in separate pots, which are left indoors or taken out to a greenhouse.
9. After a month, you can see the first flowers, and then the fruits.

Advice

By cutting off the top of the central stem and lateral processes from the plant in the summer, an increase in the number of fruits can be achieved.

Care features

Cultivation of cotton is a laborious process. For the normal growth and development of this shrub, it is necessary to create conditions close to those programmed by nature.

• The room temperature should be around 30 ⁰C. At low temperatures, there is a danger of non-germination of seeds, at higher temperatures (up to 40⁰C) - wilting and shedding of flowers and seed pods.
• The plant does not tolerate shade, so it is better to keep it on the sunny side, but out of direct sunlight.
• “Cotton has a head in the sun, and feet in the water,” says popular wisdom. Indeed, the shrub needs frequent and abundant watering, as well as constant spraying from a spray bottle.
• During the period when buds and flowers appear, cotton should be fed with potash or phosphorus fertilizer.
• Systematic loosening of the surface soil layer and the use of a drainage layer at the bottom of the pot will provide oxygen and moisture to the root system.

Advice

If you decide to plant cotton in the garden, let a peanut keep him company - it will enrich the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients.

Diseases and pests

Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi or bacteria, as well as malnutrition of the plant, cause great harm to the cotton crop. These problems reach their peak by the summer season, shortly before the maturation of the cotton fiber. Unfortunately, even shrubs growing at home and surrounded by the triple attention of the owner-grower are susceptible to their effects.

• Fusarium - the fungus that causes the disease provokes the wilting of buds and flowers, drying of the leaves and, ultimately, the death of the plant. In surviving shrubs, fruiting is significantly reduced or stops altogether. Mainly affected are fine-fiber varieties of cotton.
• Black root rot. It is caused by a fungus that lives in the soil. Through the roots and intercellular space, it spreads in the form of a mycelium throughout the plant, affecting the root collar, stem and leaves. As a result, the bush dries up and becomes brittle.
• Gommoz. Wind-borne bacteria cause disease that affects stems, leaves, bracts and even the fiber inside the pod. A characteristic symptom of the problem is the release of gum - a sticky thick liquid that dries up in the form of a grayish film. The plant is covered with brown spots, leaves and stems are deformed.
• Anthracnose - the so-called pink rot, from which both seedlings and already adult plants can suffer. The disease can be recognized by the characteristic brown spots with a red rim on the trunk, leaves and capsules. Unfortunately, infected bushes die off.

Advice

The most effective treatment for plant health is seed dressing prior to planting. Previously, sulfuric acid, copper sulfate or bleach were used for this purpose - rather aggressive substances, when working with which you need to be very careful. Today, the situation is simpler - you just need to purchase a special aqueous suspension of treaters in a flower shop.

More than 200 insect species threaten the healthy growth of cotton. Among them, the following stand out.

• Cotton scoop Is a butterfly that lays larvae on the leaves, buds and flowers of cotton. The caterpillars that are born damage the apical shoots, bite into the capsules, eating the seeds. To combat the pest, the plant is treated with an insecticidal composition, after removing the affected areas.
• Cotton aphid sucks the juice from the leaves and destroys the apical buds, thereby stopping the growth of the shrub. Due to carbohydrate depletion, the plant weakens, the leaves roll up into a tube, the ovary falls off.
• Spider mite pretends to be a secret, resembling a thin web, with which he covers the entire plant. To get rid of the parasite will help the usual warm soapy water and insecticide treatment.
• Thrips a carpet of small black dots covers the affected area. The best way to get rid of parasites is to completely remove the diseased leaf, flower, or part of the stem.

Of course, to grow cotton at home, you will have to put in a lot of work and worries. But it's worth it to one day see white fluffy clouds that have opened on thin twigs.