Crops down south cotton on

New varieties and a soil rejuvenator are being hailed as key to their success.

The cotton is grown on a traditional row crop layout, although some paddocks have been converted to bankless channel in the past year to increase labour efficiency.

A rotation of corn, wheat, rice and seed canola was modified to make way for the cotton varieties, Sicot 71BRF and 74BRF.

The crop yielded an average of 11.3 bales a hectare last year and was delivered to Southern Cotton's Whitton gin.

Farm manager Russell Fisher said one cotton paddock had suffered from emerging problems of compaction, water logging, crusting and poor soil structure.

"We always had trouble getting the crop out of the ground so we thought this paddock would be a good one to try something different," Mr Fisher said.

"The predominantly clay-based soil is difficult - once tilled, it will crust over, if it becomes dry it becomes hard, cloddy ground."

Mr Fisher and his colleague Eugene Dore trialled the organically certified TM Agricultural three years ago, applying it as a tank mix at 250 millilitres a hectare to improve the soil.

"I was sceptical, but it is now the only field we can consistently dig worms up all year," Mr Fisher said.

This year they "fertigated" using the product, applying it with the initial irrigation of the crop at 500ml/ha, followed by 250ml/ha in early January, Mr Fisher said.

Stubble management has been practiced for six years to increase soil carbon, but heavy trash loads have proved difficult.

"To handle the residue, we find the best way is to mix it back in with the soil and working to a depth of 20 to 30 centimetres."

A heavy-duty offset disc is being developed with Serafin Landpower, Griffith, to improve trash incorporation.

The machine will have a 7.5m cut, weigh 14 tonnes and be fitted with 800mm discs.

Most seeders weigh 7t to 7.5t and are fitted with 700mm discs.