Cotton Harvesting

Cotton can be picked manually or mechanically. The quality of the cotton will suffer if

... unripe, damaged or dirty fibres are mixed with the crop. A frequent problem is honeydew, a sugary liquid produced by aphids. Honeydew sticks the cotton fibres together so that they are difficult to process.

... foreign matter such as plastic from harvesting bags or packaging material, and hairs can get mixed in with the cotton fibre. They make processing difficult and they absorb dyes at a different rate from the cotton.

… the cotton is stored in damp places. Moisture can lead to the development of fungus, causing significant reductions in cotton quality.