Growing Cotton in The Great White North - Yes, it is possible to grow cotton in Canada!

free? ebook for spinning cotton  https://spinoffmagazine.com/spinning-cotton-a-free-ebook/

well, my seed that I managed to save seems to be a bust, none of them have managed to survive to the true leaf stage. I've got a few seeds left from last year as well as some other ones I purchased from some other places that I've started, so hopefully I can harvest some more seeds and cotton this year, maybe get some that are developed enough to survive germination. Wish me luck lol!

Hi. It has nothing to do with my failure to grow a little cotton plants in a pot, but I won't go on following this thread. And i won't try growing cotton again. I decided to aim on linen and nettles as my fibers. They grow here easily!

Eldon Dore wrote:well, my seed that I managed to save seems to be a bust, none of them have managed to survive to the true leaf stage. I've got a few seeds left from last year as well as some other ones I purchased from some other places that I've started, so hopefully I can harvest some more seeds and cotton this year, maybe get some that are developed enough to survive germination. Wish me luck lol!

Thanks for the update.

Did the bolls make cotton and the seeds still didn't set?  

I'm glad you have more seed.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi. It has nothing to do with my failure to grow a little cotton plants in a pot, but I won't go on following this thread. And i won't try growing cotton again. I decided to aim on linen and nettles as my fibers. They grow here easily!

I understand completely.  Pushing the boundaries of where cotton can grow is taking more effort than I thought it would.  But it sure is nice to have a soft fibre.

My cotton houseplant is actually doing quite well over the winter, but I did need to put a grow light on it.

Here's a video I found on spinning cotton

 

Here's a video of growing cotton in Canada

r ranson wrote:

Eldon Dore wrote:well, my seed that I managed to save seems to be a bust, none of them have managed to survive to the true leaf stage. I've got a few seeds left from last year as well as some other ones I purchased from some other places that I've started, so hopefully I can harvest some more seeds and cotton this year, maybe get some that are developed enough to survive germination. Wish me luck lol!

Thanks for the update.

Did the bolls make cotton and the seeds still didn't set?  

I'm glad you have more seed.

I did get some usable cotton, not a lot, but enough that I can play around with it a bit. The seeds in the bolls were a little smaller than the ones I received from you, and when I planted them none came up, so I tried doing some between paper towel in a warm area, and about a third of them sprouted, but when I moved them into soil, they just languished and died, so I'm thinking they weren't quite developed enough to make it. I'm gonna keep trying though, grow them in different spots, different soils, maybe try some as houseplants.

I've stopped offering seed for the experiment, but I encourage you to please keep reporting on your triumphs and failures.  You could also use this as a place to post seed for trade.  I know one seed exchange that uses the old Canadian tyre dollars and self-addressed stamped envelopes, but when I asked the people at CT about it, they were angry their cash was being used as money.  

...


This last year, I've finally figured out how not to kill houseplants and I have two cottons growing inside.  One has a boll forming on it.  I might get a harvest on my first houseplant cotton!  I'm very excited.

I didn't grow cotton outside last year due to ... shenanigans.  But this year I have a dozen plants in a makeshift greenhouse in the garden.  

One of these days I want to get some seed from Sally Fox.  
I also want to find some technical books on how to grow cotton.  My library has very little.  I'm wondering if the thing in the US called the Extension Office might be a good source?  The UN also has some great books on growing silk and mulberries, so I wonder if they published one on cotton?  

Yeah! I tried again. Nice people (who were uncluttering because they were moving) gave me a 'bouquet' of stems of cotton with fluffy seed balls. I took one of those balls apart to pick out the seeds:


I planted the seeds in a pot with soil, only a few days ago, and they sprouted (March 3, 2023)!


Last time the plants failed, probably because it was the wrong season (autumn), now I hope the time is right to grow my own cotton ;-)
To be continued ...

My cotton seedlings are growing nicely. Yesterday (March 26) I made this photo:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi. It has nothing to do with my failure to grow a little cotton plants in a pot, but I won't go on following this thread. And i won't try growing cotton again. I decided to aim on linen and nettles as my fibers. They grow here easily!

Okay, I said so ... But then I got those decorative cotton balls on stems (I mean the natural cotton seeds in fluff). I couldn't stop myself from taking the seeds out of one and putting them in soil. And it was the right time of the year, my cotton plants grew!
I see I already posted a photo of them here (see above). They are still alive, I need to make more photos


to be continued (with photo)

Today I made a photo of my cotton plants. They do not look as good as in summer. They were outdoors during August and September. The edges of the leaves look like tiny creatures took bites from them. Now they're back indoors again I hope they will recover.