Harvesting and Storage

This picture basically sums it up. This picture was taken by Sally-Ann during her visit to a high production cotton farm, during harvesting time.
In other words, harvesting, mainly, is very labour intensive and storage facilities are open air.

Weeds and Insects

Cotton grows slowly in the spring and can be shaded out easily by weeds. If weeds begin to overpower the seedling cotton, drastic reductions in yield can result. Later in the season, cotton leaves fully shade the ground and suppress mid-to-late season weeds. For these reasons, weed control is focused on providing a 6 to 8-week weed-free period directly following planting.

Producers employ close cultivation and planters that place the cottonseed deep into moist soil, leaving weed seeds in high and dry soil. Herbicides or cultivation controls weeds between the rows.

Insect Management

The cotton plant has evolved with numerous damaging insects. These insects, if left unattended, would virtually eliminate the harvestable crop in most cotton-producing areas. Plants infested with leaf-feeding insects are able to compensate somewhat by producing more leaves. Many of cotton’s insects, however, feed on squares and bolls. This reduces the yield and leads to delays in crop development, often into the frost or rainy season.

The cotton industry utilizes a multifaceted approach to the problem of insects. Known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), it keeps pests below yield-damaging levels. IPM is dependent on natural populations of beneficial insects to suppress damaging pests. Additionally, some cotton varieties are genetically bred to be less attractive to insects.

https://www.cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/fieldtofabric/weeds.cfm

Crop Rotation in Cotton Farming

Cultivating cotton in rotation method is very important. Cotton should be followed by crops like sugarcane, maize, banana, etc. Cotton should not be followed by cotton as it increases the pest and disease problems.
Cotton production methods varies in India depending on the region and the farmer. Depends on the season and the crops that are chosen different variables come in to place such as: type of soil, Ph, climate conditions and cultural characteristics. High productions systems do not use crop rotations but use a high inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Even though crop rotation is important for pest and diseases control; some companies in India do not take this into account because high production and demand.
Some small scale farmers in India do use the crop rotations systems since they produce other crops as well. The yield that these producers have is lower compared to the high scale producers. Nevertheless, small scale farmers contribute a large number to India's cotton production.

Soils in India

India is a vast country, therefore, it also  has many soils types and characteristics throughout its territory. In the picture below it can be clearly observed the different soil types. 

It can also be observed that India has 4 major soil types and they all "stick together". This makes it easy for high scale cultivations systems. 

In the image of the left, the yellow colored area is where cotton is produced. This means that the main soil types of India have no major geographical effect on cotton production. 

Cotton production improvement over the years

Cotton has been produced for many many years in India. In the two pictures its clearly showed the productivity and yield differences from before and after introducing genetically modified varieties.
For this analysis the most important aspect to take into account is the yield. In a comparison between 2001 and 2014 an increase of 79%! was recorded. This is just by introducing genetically modified species, such as BT Cotton.

Environment and Ecosystems

Cotton needs specific climate  conditions for it to grow to its maximal potential. Various regions of India is able to provide these conditions. 
Hot and moist climate is ideal for cotton farming. Here are some more specific information: 

1. Temperature: 25 C is ideal for cotton cultivation 
2. Rainfall: 150 cm to 200cm rainfall is essential. Moisture in the wind is necessary

In India, cotton is grown in three distinct agro-ecological zones, viz., Northern (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan), Central (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) and Southern zone (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka). All of these areas provide the adequate climate conditions for cotton production. Nevertheless, conditions between the areas differs and that is also why different varieties are grown in each area. 

Cotton Flower

Flowering

As Sally learned previously, cotton is a perennial woody shrub. A perennial plant is a plant that lives for more than two years. Originally cotton was a perennial plant but through years of breeding and selection; today cotton used for massive production has been adapted to an annual production system. Furthermore, breeding and selection has also allowed cotton production  to be posible in various climate conditions such as semi-arid and humid conditions.

The Cotton Flower

The cotton plant produces a perfect flower, meaning that the same flower contains female and male organs. The first sign of flowering start to show around 35 days after planting. The flower bloom happens around 21 days after the first sign of flowering occurs.

Flowering is very important to cotton production because pollinated flowers become cotton bolls. Pollination normally happens a few hours the white flower has opened.

Root Development

As the seed continuous to develop and growing upwards, development also occurs below the ground. Roots need to be formed so nutrients can be absorbed.

The radicle that originally emerged from the seed becomes a taproot. A taproot is a type of root system that has a main root from which lateral roots being to form and develop.

Figure 1 shows the development of the cotton plant over a period of time. As it can be observed there is a main root in the middle from which many smaller roots develop from. Roots keep growing depending on the nutrient and water availability. If nutrients are abundant roots will not grow intensively. On the contrary, if nutrient and water availability is low, roots will grow bigger and deeper.