Arkansas Rice Update 6-13-25

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - June 13, 2025

Arkansas Rice Update 2025-13

June 13, 2025

Jarrod Hardke, Scott Stiles, Bob Scott, & Camila Nicolli

“Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life.”

Mosquito Season Returns

Plenty of calls this week referring to “the two-week high five” window.  It’s been described different ways, but ultimately all are talking about that mid-to-late June window of fertilized and flooded rice that uniforms up with a dark color green and makes you feel good.  And it is the prelude to missed grass and other problems emerging from the canopy.  Enjoy it while it lasts!  I think there will be a little more grass worms its way out of the canopy this year – just to be an eyesore.

Temperatures and conditions remain mild for now but may turn toward temps firming into the 90s in the extended forecast with rain chances backing off.  We’re still staring at chances of rain this weekend and some of the coming week to keep soil conditions damp (Fig. 1).  For flooded fields (and furrow-irrigated ones) the continued rains have the bonus of lowering the water bill, but for remaining fields that still need some pre-irrigation management and attention, it’s more of the same frustration.

While not rice specific, there are acres of soybeans starting to look like they’ll go unplanted if rain doesn’t give us a break.  Add to that the soybean replants that need to occur because of excess rains and we can’t get a dry window to even get those done.

This is the 13^th update of the year, and it falls on Friday the 13^th.  I don’t know what that means but it doesn’t sound like a good omen.

Read on below for more information on early blast, tissue testing for deficiencies, herbicide plant-back intervals, and rice markets.

Let us know if we can help.

Fig. 1.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

Disease Update – Early Blast Warning

Camila Nicolli

With morning dew hanging on late and recent reports of rice blast confirmed in Louisiana, Arkansas growers should be on alert.  Weather conditions have been favorable for blast development – moderate temperatures and extended leaf wetness due to humidity and dew, like we saw this past Tuesday (June 10).

Blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, can get a head start under these conditions.  While it’s still early for fungicide applications, fields with a known history of blast or high-risk features – such as tree lines, high nitrogen areas, and exposed levees – should be watched closely over the next few weeks.

Maintaining a consistent 4-inch flood is one of the best early-season tools to suppress disease development.  Scout fields regularly, especially those with past issues.  Early detection and timely management decisions will go a long way in protecting yield potential this season.

Fig. 2.  Leaf blast in Louisiana (courtesy LSU AgCenter).

Ricing Around

Jarrod Hardke

Tissue testing:

As rice enters reproductive growth stages, as many acres have or are doing now, odd symptoms are known to show up.  Don’t waste money on a guess – let’s try to get an answer before we apply corrective fertilizers.

Tissue test!  Sample from good and bad areas so we have a diagnostic comparison.  Typically, we can get results back on these in just a few days and we’ll have a much better understanding of what’s going on in the plant that may be causing the deficiency and what should be done to correct it.

What plant tissue to sample and how to interpret the results?

Collect 20+ Y-leaves (the Y-leaf is the uppermost expanded leaf with a collar on the plant).  When we get results back we’re hoping to see nitrogen (N) values above 3%; potassium (K) values at or above 1.6%; phosphorus (P) values at or above 0.18%; sulfur (S) above 0.16%; and zinc (Zn) values at or above 20 ppm.  These values are approximate – so having good and bad plant samples to compare provides insurance that we’re identifying the proper deficiency.  For numbers that are borderline (near or just below the above values), consider the growth stage.  Borderline tissue concentrations early in the season (up until ½” internode elongation) will typically need to be corrected or significant yield loss will occur.  Borderline tissue concentrations that occur late in the season near heading will oftentimes not lead to an economical yield change.

Alternative approach:

If you want additional confirmation, you can apply “10x10” plots where you apply different fertilizers to 10 ft x 10 ft areas to observe the response.  We keep some of these around to be able to apply urea, ammonium sulfate, TSP, and potash when the opportunity arises.  If you are interested in this approach, please reach out and we can get you a set.

Correcting deficiencies:

If you find you have a P or K deficiency, the correction is to apply 100 lb of triple super phosphate (TSP) or 100 lb of potash to a stable flood.  It is taken up by the plant quickly (especially for K, while P can be slower).  If you have a Zn deficiency, we need to drop the flood, apply 1 lb Zn chelate (Zn EDTA), then 100 lb ammonium sulfate, and reflood (granular Zn doesn’t dissolve fast enough to benefit in these situations).

Some deficiencies aren’t real!

Keep in mind when evaluating fields and plants for possible deficiencies to look at the roots!  We can have what appears to be rice that is nutrient deficient BUT that deficiency may be caused by another problem.  Compaction is becoming a more concerning issue where there are adequate nutrients to support plant growth, but the roots can’t access the entire profile to take up the nutrients which are there.  Additionally, ALS herbicides can cause bottle brushing and root pruning which inhibit nutrient uptake (Fig. 3).  Similarly, hydrogen sulfide toxicity can shut down root systems affecting nutrient uptake (Fig. 4).  Always check the roots when diagnosing issues.  If the roots are part of the problem, then we need to drop the flood and get oxygen to the root crown to stimulate healthy new root growth – often this corrects the problem without the need for additional fertilizer (the fertilizer / nutrients are there, the plant just hasn’t been able to get them).

Fig. 3.  Bottle brushing and pruning of roots caused by ALS herbicides.

Fig. 4.  Hydrogen sulfide toxicity impacting rice root growth.

Bobbing and Weeding

Bob Scott

Hard to accept that so many fields around the delta are going to be fallow this year due to economics.  I know that some were preventive plant, flooded, etc.  But I have seen some prime farmland just laying out with last winter’s annuals flowering and going to seed.  I will say that at least some folks are calling and going over strategies for controlling the weeds and preventing them from getting grown up this summer and being a mess to farm next year.  The common practice seems to be to perform some kind of tillage and then come back with a late summer or early fall burndown plus residual.  Glyphosate plus Liberty with a residual seems to be what most are thinking of going with.  I am good with that just keep it off growing crops that are not tolerant.

In addition to fallow ground residuals, we are still planting soybeans and probably will be for a while.  With the level of resistance that we have, residuals (mainly for pigweed) need to be a part of the program.  Given these two factors here is a reminder on some labeled plant-back restrictions to some common herbicides that people have asked about using in these scenarios:

Table 1.  Plant-back intervals to rice for selected herbicides.

** Glyphosate and glufosinate are immediate plant backs.

As you can see some of these products require long plant-back intervals.  One good option for fall residual control of ryegrass is Command which is of course used in rice and other crops and is safe to plant back into in the spring.

There is a lot of CYA built into these plant-back intervals by the companies.  As someone who has researched plant-back intervals, they are very difficult to determine with any certainty.  Soil type, herbicide rate, temperature, moisture, tillage, flood or not, even the presence of vegetation can affect carryover.  Many of the products I have looked at below we have researched as fall options for residual treatments ahead of rice with no issues, but to recommend that you need data from 100’s of data points.  I am comfortable with most of these “following year” products being applied well into the summer months, especially on irrigated ground.  I start to get nervous in late July and August about some of them.

Bottom line is plant-back intervals are there for your protection, so be aware of what you are spraying and what your planting intentions are.  See the MP44, MP519 or herbicide label for more information.

Fig. 5.  Suspected carryover from soybean herbicide.

Market Update

Scott Stiles

One of the biggest surprises in the June WASDE came in the long-grain balance sheet.  As we mentioned last week, the June report is generally a “quiet” one with few changes, if any.  Only in extreme circumstances will USDA preempt the June 30 Acreage report with a production adjustment.  The USDA acknowledged in Thursday’s report the impact weather has had on planting the 2025 rice crop in the Delta.

In this month’s supply/demand report we saw an aggressive cut to 2025 long-grain production.  Not waiting for the June Acreage survey, USDA made note of “the excessive spring precipitation in the Delta” and anticipated this would result in “lower rice acreage in the region compared to the March Prospective Plantings”.  On the long-grain balance sheet, production was lowered by 7.5 million cwt. (-4.5%) this month to 159.7 million cwt.  Partially offsetting the sharp production cut was a 1 million cwt. increase in imports and a 3 million cwt. reduction in domestic and residual use.  The net result was a 3.5 million cwt reduction in 2025/26 ending stocks to 34 million.  This is slightly below the 35.3 million ending stocks of 2024/25.

On lower ending stocks, the projected 2025/26 long-grain season-average farm price was increased by $0.50 per cwt to $12.50 or $5.63 per bushel.  At $5.63 per bushel, this would result in a PLC payment of 67 cents per bushel.  A futures close this week at $13.88, basis the September contract, would put most fall delivery mill bids at $6.00 per bushel.

The futures market reaction to the USDA report was favorable, with the September contract closing 5 ½ cents higher at $13.82 ½.  That price level has been a key area of chart resistance that capped previous rallies on March 31 and April 15 this spring.  The next key layer of chart resistance for the September contract will be the 200-day moving average, which currently sits at $13.92.

Fig. 6.  CME September 2025 Rough Rice Futures, Daily Chart.

Crude Oil / Fertilizer Markets

In Friday’s overnight trading, crude oil futures made its largest single-day move in the past 5 years as Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities and military sites.  WTI crude oil traded up to $77.62 per barrel overnight as the attacks occurred; up 14% from Thursday’s settle.  Oil futures had backed off to $72.20 at the time of this writing, mid-morning Friday.

Fig. 7.  NYMEX Crude Oil WTI, Daily Nearby Futures.

As a reminder, Iran exports about 1.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.  Plus, the oil market is always watching for events like this to turn into a regional battle and significantly disrupt oil trade.  The Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, handles a fifth of the world’s total oil traffic.

For Israel’s part, this military operation is expected to last several days.  If it turns into a longer-term regional conflict, global fertilizer trade may also be impacted.  There are major nitrogen producers and exporters in the Middle East region. Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman are all in the Top 10 of global Urea exports.  Key takeaway: nitrogen fertilizer could also be impacted by this conflict.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2025 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2024 season, so if you used the program last year you can log in just as you did last year.  Log in and enroll fields here:  https://dd50.uada.edu.

Use the Arkansas Rice Advisor Internet App!

The Arkansas Rice Advisor site https://riceadvisor.uada.edu functions like an app on your mobile device.  There you can readily access the DD50 program, rice seeding rate calculator, drill calibration, fertilizer and N rate calculators, publications, and more.

Additional Information

Arkansas Rice Updates are published periodically to provide timely information and recommendations for rice production in Arkansas.  If you would like to be added to this email list, please send your request to rice@uada.edu.

This information will also be posted to the Arkansas Row Crops blog (http://www.arkansas-crops.com/) where additional information from Extension specialists can be found.

More information on rice production, including access to all publications and reports, can be found at http://www.uaex.uada.edu/rice.

Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate the support for this publication provided by the rice farmers of Arkansas and administered by the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board.

The authors greatly appreciate the feedback and contributions of all growers, county agents, consultants, and rice industry stakeholders.