Instead of enjoying this year's mild summer, cotton farmers in the High Plains are anxiously watching the thermometer and hoping for warmer temperatures, Texas Cooperative Extension reports.

Dr. John Gannaway of Lubbock, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station cotton breeder, said North Texas has had "really good people weather, just not good cotton weather."

"What we need right now is heat," he said. "Highs in the 90's with lows preferably no cooler than mid-60's would help the crop out tremendously."

Heat causes the fibers in cotton to mature and raises what is called cotton's micronaire.

"Micronaire, the maturity of the fiber, is what concerns us the most," he said. "Micronaire can greatly affect the price farmers get for their cotton."

Micronaire, the fiber's fineness, can affect the uniformity, appearance and strength of the yard in the finished product.

Although more heat is needed before farmers can harvest, Gannaway said tremendous potential to produce a great crop still exists.

"(The High Plains) had some good, timely rains this summer, and that produced as good of a crop that we've had in many years," he said.

However, the question many farmers are asking is will the crop make it to harvest?

Gannaway said it all depends on the weather.

"Unfortunately, (weather's) something that can't be guessed," he said. "They say the only people who predict the weather are fools and newcomers. I'm no newcomer, and I certainly hope I'm not a fool."

In order to have the best product, producers want to harvest before the first freeze. The normal freeze date for the High Plains is Nov.1.

"But it's not just the freeze date that matters," he said. "It's also the temperatures that occur in between now and the freeze date." Gannaway said if the region can stay warm and dry, the cotton should be all right.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site, www.nass.usda.gov/tx/ncrp0910.htm , the 2004 Texas upland cotton crop is expected to total a record 7 million bales. That is 62 percent more than 2003 and 11 percent more than last month. State Director Robin Roark said yield samples show boll counts at a record high level. Yield is expected to average 611 pounds per acre compared with 478 pounds last year.

Dr. Robert Lemon of College Station, Extension cotton specialist, said the High Plains grows approximately 3.5 million acres of cotton.

"Most of that acreage is planted to stripper varieties of cotton. However, significant acreage of picker cotton is being grown." Gannaway said, "The picker varieties of cotton tend to be later maturing and less storm proof than stripper cotton. This is what concerns us."

Gannaway said although producers focus a lot on the term ‘heat units' to monitor the growth of their crop, it takes more than heat to make a crop. Heat units, as defined by Gannaway, are the numbers resulting from the "sum of the maximum and minimum daily temperatures, divided by two, and minus 60.

"Heat units can serve as excellent indicators, but success is a combination of things, such as water, good sunlight and fertilizer," he said.

Lemon said cotton harvest in other parts of Texas is wrapping up.

"We're done in the rest of the state," he said. "It all turned out to be very good.

"The problem (in Central and South Texas) wasn't heat, but all the rain we had. It delayed harvest a little, but thankfully we haven't had much bad weather to speak of recently. Our issue right now is to get the crop out before any weather hits," Lemon said.