Choosing Harvest Aid Chemicals for Arizona Cotton

A variety of harvest aid chemicals exist that can be used to prepare cotton for harvest and can be classified into six main categories: defoliants, desiccants, defoliants/desiccants, boll openers/conditioners, boll openers/defoliants, and defoliation enhancers. These chemicals are applied to enhance the natural process of defoliation and boll opening, so a cotton crop should be heading towards senescence but still physiologically active at the time of application (Ayala and Silvertooth. 2001).