This small bush is grown from a seed and matures in around 100 days. It needs a temperature of 680 to germinate and because of this grows best in warm climate with proper irrigation. The leaves of this plant are very much like that of the oak tree. The strange thing about the flowers of this tree is that they start out pink in color and then change to white. Bolls are produced by these flowers which hold the seeds. When winter sets in the tree withers and the boll pops open in segments when it dries and the cotton comes out.

This plant has to be protected from the boll weevil which lays eggs in the plant and then the larvae bore into the bolls and destroy it while feeding on it. This pest can put an end to the production of cotton if they become rampant. However, the good news is that there is a new equipment and technique which attracts the weevil and then kills it. This apparatus has a poisonous material fixed to it which is air dropped on the cotton crop and kills the weevils on contact immediately.

The cotton is taken from the bolls once they have dried and then the seeds are separated at a cotton gin from the cotton. The seeds are used for being processed into oil or lint, while what is left over is used to make fertilizer or cattle feed. Lint is low grade cotton. The cotton on the other hand is processed and spun into material or thread. Cotton is used to make fabrics and also as cotton wool for mattresses and pillows and for lining of clothes and quilts to keep warm during winter season. This is more so in third world countries.