Interesting facts about cotton: what it looks like, grows and bears fruit
The word "cotton" is familiar to each of us, but not everyone has an idea what it is. Most people habitually call natural fabric cotton, but in fact it is plant fiber - the fruit of a crop called cotton. They are the basis for the manufacture of natural fabrics such as cambric, chintz, satin and others. Not only the fruits are valuable, but also the rest of the plant. So, oil is made from seeds, both technical and food, from the stems - paper, and plant waste is used for animal feed. What does cotton look like and how does it bear fruit?
Description of culture
Cotton plant by nature is a herbaceous plant related to mallow. Most often it grows in the form of a bush, but whole trees of impressive size, more than 5 m in height, can also be found. After up to 7 leaves appear on the main, vertical, stem, lateral shoots begin to form in the axils and the bush branches.
Interestingly, the time of appearance of the first lateral branch determines the variety of the cotton relative to the period of fruit ripening: the earlier it appears, the faster the harvest will ripen, which means that the variety will be early ripening.
In cotton, the root system is pivotal, with additional roots, most of which are shallow (maximum 0.5 m at the depth of the soil) and are most developed in the presence of sufficient moisture. The central rod itself can go down to 2 m, and its length starts from 80 cm or more.
The culture is grown by sowing seeds. Three months after the emergence of shoots, the flowering of cotton begins, and it amazes with its magnificence: rather large buds are similar to roses, simple or semi-double forms. The color of the flowers can be different, but it is always monochromatic. The first buds are delicate white or yellow, and turn purple or pink as they mature. The flowering of the plant is so beautiful that it is sometimes planted in private plots.
Features of fruiting
At the end of flowering, in place of the buds, fruits are formed in the form of capsules, inside which there are seeds. The capsule grows, increases in size and, about 7 weeks after flowering, bursts into pieces, from 2 to 5 pieces, revealing white thin fibers collected in a lump. At first glance, it looks like a lump of cotton wool.
Cotton plant - plant self-pollinating and has many varieties. The finer the plant fibers and the longer, the more value the variety has.
Harvesting is carried out in several stages, since the boxes do not ripen at the same time. Previously, it was carried out manually, but today many use special machines for this, although in some countries the human factor still remains.