Before they can be turned into sheets or t-shirts, the cotton seeds must first be separated from the plant, and then the fibers from the seeds. Stages of cotton flower and fruit formation: 1. Flower bud; 2. Flower; 3. Developing seed pod; 4. Seed pod dries and opens, revealing mature cotton fibers.
Cotton fibers begin to form soon after the flower opens Day 1. Even then, they are visible as enlarged, single cells on the surface of the developing seed. By day 3, the fibers have already begun to lengthen. By day 60, they have reached their full length, and they are dry and ready to harvest.
Individual fibers can be seen in woven cotton fabric lower right. Images used with permission: seeds and insets modified from Stewart ; mature fibers from Beasley ; woven fabric provided by If you look closely at your cotton jeans, cotton socks, or a cotton ball, you'll see very fine, hair-like fibers. Each cotton fiber is a single cell. Most types of cells are so tiny that you need to use a powerful microscope to see them.
But cotton fibers are easily visible to the naked eye, reaching lengths of up to 2 inches 5 cm. In fact, the fibers from domesticated cotton are the longest cells of any plant. Cotton fibers achieve most of their great length in a mere 30 days. They begin as tiny cells in the fertilized cotton flower.
A month or so later, they fill the maturing seed pods to the point of bursting. To make threads for fabric, individual fibers are overlapped and twisted around each other. Longer fibers are more valuable than short ones, because they require less overlap and can therefore be woven into finer threads. The white blossoms become pollinated, turn pink and then wither producing green bolls.
The green bolls mature into cotton bolls with the white fluffy fibres. Plants are irrigated, fertilised and weeded, as needed, during the growing cycle. The gin separates the cotton fibres from the seeds. Saw gin is mainly used to process Upland cotton and roller gin is used for Pima cotton. Gins separate the seed and the lint is packed into pound kg bales are sent out to textile mills to make yarn. The cotton is carded or combed, making all of the fibres run parallel, and then spun into thread.
The cottonseed at the gin is used as animal feed and garden fertilizer; while the oil extracted from cottonseed is used in firearm and pharmaceutical industries. What is cotton used for? While cotton is more durable than silk, it is less durable than wool, and this fabric is relatively prone to pilling, rips, and tears.
Nonetheless, cotton remains one of the most popular and highly produced fabrics in the world. This textile has relatively high tensile strength, and its natural coloring is white or slightly yellowish. Cotton is very water absorbent, but it also dries quickly, which makes it highly moisture wicking.
You can wash cotton in high heat, and this fabric drapes well on your body. However, cotton fabric is relatively prone to wrinkling, and it will shrink when washed unless it is exposed to a pre-treatment. Cotton fabric producers derive this textile from the fibrous protective casing that surrounds cotton seeds, which is called a boll.
While cotton seeds themselves are quite small, the bolls that encase them can be larger than the end of your thumb. To make cotton fabric, producers must first separate the cotton seed from the boll. In the past, this step was done by hand, but in , American entrepreneur Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin , which is a mechanical device that greatly expedites the cotton separation process.
These days, automated forms of the cotton gin exist that make the process even easier for human workers. Machines can harvest cotton bolls from agricultural fields, and other machines can then separate the seeds from the bolls. Cotton production begins in the spring when cotton seeds are planted. In most cases, automated machines plant cotton seeds in 10 or more rows simultaneously.
Seedlings emerge within approximately seven days, and mature cotton bolls appear within 55 to 80 days. Prior to machine harvesting, human workers are generally required for defoliation, which is the process of removing the leaves from cotton plants.
Next, a single machine harvests the amount of cotton that 50 people could pick, and this same machine removes large contaminants from the cotton fibers and forms it into bales. High-efficiency automated cotton gins can process up to 60 raw cotton bales weighing pounds each in the space of an hour. These gins remove the seeds from cotton bolls, and they also remove any dirt or trash from the cotton. Once cotton has been cleaned to the extent that it consists of pure cotton fibers without any seeds or trash, it is transferred to a textile production facility.
At this facility, the raw cotton is carded, which is the process of forming cotton fibers into long strands. Next, these strands are spun to create yarn. At this stage, the basic material used in cotton fabrics is complete. This cotton yarn may then be subjected to a variety of chemical treatments, and it may be dyed. Next, it is woven into a particular type of textile material such as a bedsheet, T-shirt, or pair of blue jeans. In sheer numbers, cotton is the most widely used textile fiber in the world, and manufacturers can spin this fabric into a myriad of different types of products.
For instance, most T-shirts contain at least some amount of cotton, and true blue jeans are percent cotton. This fabric is used to make bathrobes, bathmats, and towels, and it is also used to make bedsheets, blankets, and duvets. The textile is not very flexible and tends to crease after the first washing. Furthermore, it is non allergenic and contains no chemicals when it is produced in best conditions, which makes organic cotton products the best choice for your skin and our community.
Recycling cotton usually entails the conversion of cotton fabric into cotton fibre that can be reused in textile products. More often, recycled cotton is produced by using scraps created by yarn and fabric left by production while is less common to recycle second-hand clothes as it is more labour intensive.
Moreover, as a natural source, organic cotton is biodegradable. If an item of clothing is made entirely of natural cotton, you can give it back to earth. Check out this guide about how to compost your clothes. The decomposition time depends on how the fabric has been constructed and on the environmental conditions. The decomposition of a very fine cotton in a warm, damp, mold and mildew rich area can take from 1 to 5 months.
Bist du widerruflich mit der Nutzung von Cookies auf unserer Seite einverstanden? Unsere Wirkung. Instagram Facebook Twitter Linkedin. Fabric series: All about Cotton. What is cotton? Where does cotton come from?
How is it grown? How is cotton harvested? Cotton crops get the most chemicals sprayed on Unfortunately, cotton is the crop in the world that is sprayed with most chemicals.
Ingredients of the main pesticides used by cotton farmers Organophosphates are a group of insecticides. Issues with conventional cotton production Cotton is a renewable and sustainable resource on our planet.
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