LITTLE ROCK — Agriculture experts say the Arkansas cotton crop is looking healthy and is heading for an early harvest, but it’s not without its problems.

Tom Barber of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture said Monday that recent rains have helped enliven the plants. But the accompanying cloudy weather caused some plants to drop buds and flowers.

Barber says the crop went in between two and three weeks early and that growers will be defoliating the plants in August, the last big step before harvest.

Being able to plant early enabled the plants to grow well before insects became more of a problem as the summer went on.