To help farmers identify a new cotton disease, Alabama Cooperative Extension System professionals have compiled a fact sheet on cotton leaf roll dwarf virus (cotton blue disease or CLRDV-AL). Cotton blue has been detected in 21 Alabama counties.

Access the fact sheet at tinyurl.com/CottonBlueFacts.

Infected plants exhibit stunting due to shortened internodes, leaf rolling, leaf petiole and vein reddening, distorted juvenile leaves, reduced flower and boll size, and sterility.

Severity in 2018 was greater in late-planted cotton. Extension recommends farmers in high-risk areas plant cotton in early to mid-May. Early planting, which may increase boll rot and hardlock in south Alabama, was previously recommended to manage CLRDV.