Performances of five commercially-available conservation-tillage planting systems were evaluated for cotton production on silt loam soils in West Tennessee. Implements included two no-tillage planters, a no-tillage drill, a ridge-tillage planter, and a planter system which included under-row deep tillage. Evaluations were based upon consistency of seed placement, ability to establish a viable plant stand, soil moisture preservation, plant morphological characteristics, and crop yield. Mean coefficients of variation for the pooled observations of seed placement depth ranged from 16.4 to 67.8 percent. Coefficients of variation for seed spacing along the row ranged from 56.4 to 96 percent. Field measurements indicated that some growth characteristics of cotton planted with the various conservation systems over three growing seasons differed significantly at given points in the crop production cycle. However, crop yields over a three-year period from 1987 to 1989 for the five systems were similar with yields of cotton lint averaging 750 kg/ha.