Arkansas Rice Update 6-3-22

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - June 3, 2022

Arkansas Rice Update 2022-11

June 3, 2022

Jarrod Hardke, Nick Bateman, and Ben Thrash

“Fire on the mountain, lightning in the air, gold in them hills, and it’s waitin’ for me there.”

More Fits Than Starts

Jarrod Hardke

Well, the southern half or more of the state got more rain than they bargained for this week.  I think we were all expecting around a half inch of rain, but the south got more like 1-2 inches and the north got more like a quarter inch, so I guess on average we got what we expected.

Perhaps not as much rice has gone to flood as would be expected at this point, but these routine rainfall events are making it difficult to push the crop along.  In an effort to make something happen, a number of folks were caught by pop-up showers in the middle of trying to fertilize.  We can clean up and save most of those situations, but they do make a difficult year more aggravating.

Conditions remain fairly mild so rice isn’t progressing too fast, but we are going to start getting behind.  Now is a great time to run a DD50 report (https://DD50.uada.edu) to see where you are in terms of rice progress, particularly as it relates to preflood nitrogen timing.  Growers and consultants can enter their own fields, or you can contact your county Extension office and they can assist you.  Given our fertilizer costs this year, we want to strive to get urea out efficiently on dry ground, but if this wet pattern continues we’ll need to start pushing the envelope a little to fertilizing where it’s “dry enough”.

With the routine rain and high winds we’re also seeing an uptick now in mistakes regarding herbicide applications and injury to adjacent fields as everyone tries to push to get things done.  Let’s do our best to avoid self-inflicted damage.

Next week looks very unsettled with a string of 30-50% rain chances depending on where you are.  It will be time to think about overlapping residual herbicides again for activation to hold us until we can fertilize and flood.

Let us know if we can help.

Fig. 1.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

Save the Date!

RREC Rice Field Day

On Friday, August 5, 2022, the Rice Research & Extension Center near Stuttgart will host its live, in-person, Rice Field Day!  More details to come, but it will follow a traditional format of morning field tours followed by lunch.

Rice Water Weevil Activity is Starting to Increase

Nick Bateman and Ben Thrash

As we start getting rice to flood, we will begin to attract rice water weevils (RWW).  Our RWW plots in Stuttgart went to flood this week, and RWW activity has been extremely low.  Generally, at the Stuttgart location RWW pressure is low to moderate in most years.  Looking at these plots this week; RWW scarring is starting to show up but not at an alarming level.  We have also observed this for multiple fields around RREC that we have been monitoring for the past few weeks.  It is still early to make a prediction on how bad RWW will be this year, but in the past several years we have noticed that the RWW pressure has initially been light when flooded before June 1^st and picks up considerably after.

While this scarring from adult weevil feeding is usually superficial and doesn’t cause yield loss, this is a sign that adults are present and active in the field.  Unfortunately, with the weather conditions we have had, planting has been delayed along with flood timing.  Based on planting date studies, we have observed much higher RWW pressure in rice planted in or after mid-May.

The bulk of rice planted in Arkansas is either treated with NipsIt or CruiserMaxx seed treatment, which are excellent on grape colaspis.  However, efficacy of these products on RWW decreases 28-35 days after planting.  Although RWW pressure is higher for later planted rice, these plantings typically experience rapid growth allowing us to flood within 3 weeks of planting.  In these situations, we still get sufficient control of RWW with NipsIt or CruiserMaxx.  If rice has been treated with Dermacor or Fortenza, it will still have protection from RWW at least 60 days after planting.  Also, it is important to note that NipsIt and Cruiser within the 28-35 days after planting will reduce scarring observed.  However, Dermacor and Fortenza will not affect scarring but will maintain better control of larvae.

For rice that is going to flood past the 28-35 day window with CruiserMaxx Rice or NipsIt, a foliar application of a pyrethroid like Mustang Max, Lambda-Cy, or Declare might be called for.  However, Dermacor and Fortenza will NOT need a foliar application.

Timing is critical on foliar applications for rice water weevil.  Applications must be made within 5-7 days of permanent flood establishment, as long as adults are present.  If it is later than that, our studies indicate you may as well keep the insecticide in the jug.  Your only option then is to drain the field until the soil cracks to prevent weevil damage.  Most growers aren’t crazy about doing that as it is costly and may impact weed control and fertility.  Remember, late rice will have high populations of RWW and staying vigilant with scouting and timely applications will be critical.

Fig. 2.  Rice water weevil adult feeding on rice.

Fig. 3.  Leaf scarring from rice water weevil adult feeding.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2022 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2021 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.