Nitrogen fertilizer management is a crucial and often mismanaged part of cotton production. A fine line exists between excess and deficiency and over-fertilization is often the case. In this experiment, critical nitrogen levels determined by a leaf blade nitrogen test were used as thresholds for foliar applications of urea. Cotton plots established on Sharkey clay and Commerce silt loam were grown under five nitrogen regimes. Two fertilizer treatments in plots on each soil type included supplemental foliar applications of nitrogen based on leaf blade nitrogen levels. Nitrogen levels varied throughout the growing season with nitrogen rate, soil type and crop stage. Multiple applications of foliar urea were unable to maintain levels considered sufficient. Lint yield of cotton on both soil types mirrored our efforts to maintain adequate levels of crop nitrogen. Plots receiving the optimum soil applied nitrogen rate yielded an average of 873 and 1060 lbs. acre^-1 for Sharkey and Commerce, respectively. Plots receiving minimal soil nitrogen along with supplemented foliar nitrogen required an average of 5.75 applications of foliar urea ( 28.75 # N) and 3.1 applications of foliar urea ( 15 # N) for Sharkey clay and Commerce silt loam, respectively. These foliar applications were unable to increase the yields of these treatments to levels obtained using the traditional soil applied practices.