One of the challenges associated with within-plant cotton plant mapping is the node-to-node variation within plants. Some of this variation is due to factors of interest, but this variation often results in increased variation within the sample. We tested the use of a between-node smoothing factor to decrease node-to-node variability in plant mapping. Smoothing decreased the within-sample variance, and in some cases increased the number of nodes at which significant treatment differences were observed. The total number of plants required to obtain a sample was decreased as well, making it possible to potentially plant map more samples in a season without increasing the time commitment.