Bombax ceiba

Gossypium

Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra).

Semal, also called kapuk or silk cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), that flowers spectacularly in spring and becomes a bird magnet, is one such tree. Many tribal communities consume semal because of its medicinal properties.

Simmal/ Cotton tree (Bombax ceiba) is a tropical tree with a straight tall trunk and can grow to a height of 3o metres. The leaves are deciduous in winter. The tree grows rapidly during the monsoon and spring. Kapok is used for filling pillows, quilts, sofas etc. The fruit is cooked and eaten and also pickled.

The roots are used in the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, menorrhagia, styptic and for wounds. The gum is useful in dysentery, hemoptysis, pulmonary tuberculosis, influenza, burning sensation, menorrhagia and enteritis. Bark is used for healing wounds and to stop bleeding.

Presenting the Red Silk-cotton Tree (Bombax ceiba), a tall, deciduous tree colloquially known as Semul. It is found in parts of north India and Pakistan, but is most abundant in the northeast of the country.

Cotton is easy to grow, but here, as in other states, home plants are regulated because if allowed to grow continually (and often organically), they may become vectors for disease or pests that can threaten agricultural crops.

Cotton is Illegal to Grow in Some US States This is thanks to a little beetle called Boll Weevil, or more accurately the Boll Weevil eradication programs. The boll weevil feeds on cotton buds and flowers, and can devastate the large scale producers if not aggressively controlled.

Cotton does NOT require excessive amounts of water. In fact, cotton uses less water than many other major crops produced in this country. Only 35% of U.S. cotton acreage requires some form of irrigation-the rest of the cotton land is supplied by natural rainfall.

The problems of cotton production: why is cotton bad for the environment? Conventionally-grown cotton is bad for the environment because of its high water consumption and pollution, soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and use of harmful pesticides and fertilisers.

Cotton has been called a “thirsty crop,” but it is actually inherently heat and drought tolerant. The program found that in the U.S., the majority of cotton—about 60 percent—is produced without any irrigation and relies solely on rainfall. For the remaining 40 percent, irrigation is only used to supplement crop needs.

Despite its reputation, cotton is not a water-intensive crop. It has been bred to be drought tolerant, and in many parts of the world, it relies solely on rainfall. A small amount of irrigation at key times in the growing season can greatly improve cotton yields – helping growers maximize land use efficiency.

The largely water intensive nature of the cotton crop, extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides and genetic modification has posed a significant environmental challenge as far as cotton cultivation is concerned. India is the largest producer of cotton in the world.

Overall organic cotton requires up to 91% less water to produce (from farm to bale) than conventionally grown cotton. Hazardous synthetic pesticides and fertilizers are banned in organic farming, so rivers, lakes and drinking water are kept cleaner too.

Approximately half of all textiles are made of cotton. According to WWF, it takes more than 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) of water to produce just one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cotton, which roughly equals one T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Cotton is mostly grown in the 350-800mm rainfall zone, which means cotton crops can receive significant amounts of their water needs from rain during the growing season. In 2018-19, about 32% of the cotton crop area was rain-grown, the rest irrigated from ground and surface water sources.

five to 14 days

An average boll will contain nearly 500,000 fibers of cotton and each plant may bear up to 100 bolls.

Cottonseed is full of protein but toxic to humans and most animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week approved a genetically engineered cotton with edible seeds. Cotton plants do produce seeds, but those seeds are poisonous, at least to humans.

The average price received by farmers for Upland cotton in July was 60.40 cents per pound in the 2019-2020 marketing year. The 2018-2019 marketing year average price was 70.30 cents, compared to the 2017-2018 marketing year of 68.60 cents, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

The cost of cotton will depend on the length, its strength, uniformity and color; however, other metrics may be involved as well. According to the IRS, each bale will have 500 pounds and the standard will cost $0.70 to $0.80 per pound. Doing the math, the average bale at 470 pounds can cost $329.

Recent Contracts

	Last	Chg
Cotton No. 2 Oct 2021	87.80¢	0.47
Cotton No. 2 Dec 2021	87.64¢	0.76
Cotton No. 2 Mar 2022	87.28¢	0.64
Cotton No. 2 May 2022	86.60¢	0.60

The average acre in the United States yields about 685 pounds of cotton, according to statistics compiled by the National Cotton Council of America. This year, that cotton is selling for about 60 cents a pound.