Water stress has two primary effects on cotton development depending on when it occurs and its intensity. Stress prior to flowering usually restricts the number of fruiting sites whereas, stress during early boll development results in fruit abortion. Field experiments were conducted using varying frequencies of applications and volumes of water to determine their effects on the developmental processes of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, L.) cultivars differing in degrees of indeterminacy. This was a two-variable experiment with one regime designed to deliver different volume applications of 3, 4, and 5 gallons per minute per acre, delivered on a constant 6-day frequency. The second regime was designed to create stress and recovery cycles by delivering water at a fixed volume over 3, 6, 9 and 12-day irrigation intervals. Comparisons of the effects of these regimes on plant height, main stem node production, production of fruiting sites and percent of fruit retention revealed genotypic differences in response to water volume and frequency regimes in all developmental categories evaluated. The more determinate-like cultivars were more sensitive to production of nodes and fruiting sites under water stress, while the more indeterminate type cultivars showed greater sensitivity to water stress during fruit development, which affected fruit retention.