Arkansas Rice Update 8-4-23

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - August 4, 2023

Arkansas Rice Update 2023-20

August 4, 2023

Jarrod Hardke, Nick Bateman, & Ben Thrash

“Sunshine beating on the good times, moonlight raising from the grave.”

Waiting On the End to Begin

It’s been a spicy week as predicted.  Daytime highs did touch ~100 degrees for a couple of days but generally remained reasonably below it especially in the northeast.  Now it was still hot and miserable of course, but the daytime highs shouldn’t have had much, if any, crop impact.

The same isn’t true for overnight temps.  In the northeast things have been better with only 3 consecutive nights over 75 degrees and more often around 72 (Jonesboro).  The southeast tells a little different story with 74+ degree nights for the past week (Stuttgart).  There will likely be some impact from this string of hot nights.

However, the expectation is for daytime highs and overnight lows to fall apart this weekend into much of next week.  If that does happen, then the possible increases in chalk and reduced milling yields could be kept minimal.

The added bonus is that there are rain chances spread throughout the upcoming week.  For most of the crop this will be welcome to help finish things out.  For the few ready to try putting a combine in the field it’s not ideal, and maybe not perfect if you have rice that will be flowering next week.  But overall, it will be welcome relief for rice and other crops after a few warm, dry weeks.

If things are dry enough, we could see the first combines test things out this coming week.

Let us know if we can help.

Fig. 1.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

Table 1.  9-day temperature outlook for Stuttgart and Jonesboro (as of 8/4/23).

New on Arkansas Row Crops Radio this week:

Entomology Update 8-4-23: Stink Bugs, Plant Bugs, and Bollworms

Rice College 2023 - Aug. 16 (Register by Aug. 10)

Register here:  https://uada.formstack.com/forms/2023_rice_college

CEUs will be offered.

Topics include:

Fertility:  Tissue sampling techniques, nutrient sampling interpretation, & new tools for N management.

Weeds:  Impact of weedy rice size on effectiveness of graminicides, influence of flood timing after preflood apps on weed occurrence, weed control in Roxy Rice Production System.

Insects:  rice water weevil sampling & control, resistant rice stink bug management, defoliation thresholds.

Irrigation:  Poly pipe in row rice, surge irrigation, scheduling.

Agronomy:  Growth staging, new rice cultivars.

Rice Stink Bug Termination

Nick Bateman and Ben Thrash

Over the past several days we have received multiple calls on rice stink bug (RSB) termination timing.  We have done quite a bit of work on this and have determined that when we hit 60% straw-colored kernels on a panicle, the chances of getting peck decrease substantially and we can terminate RSB applications (Fig. 2).  This work involved caging RSB on individual panicles where they were forced to feed to survive.  This would be considered a worst-case scenario.  The peck numbers in these studies are much higher than what we would expect to see in a field setting.  We do want to be pretty clean going into 60% straw coloration, because at high populations of RSB some damage can occur after 60% straw-colored kernels.  The only time we will not recommend terminating at 60% is if we have several days of rain in the forecast.  This can soften kernels and make it easier for RSB to damage kernels that would otherwise be past the point of being susceptible to rice stink bugs.

If applications are needed at this time, we have options to consider.  The numbers we are hearing about and seeing in our plots right now are right at threshold (10 RSB on 10 sweeps) or maybe slightly higher.  In these cases, lambda-cyhalothrin (Warrior II, Kendo, Lambda-Cy) is still a good cheap option.  While the overall efficacy is not great with lambda compared to several years ago, it still consistently provides 50-60% control of RSB and at this timing with threshold level RSB that is good enough.  Once we start exceeding 15 plus RSB on 10 sweeps, options like Endigo ZCX and Tenchu should be considered.  Feel free to reach out to use if there are any questions.

Fig. 2.  Damage (peck) caused by rice stink bug feeding.

Rice Futures

Jarrod Hardke

Rice futures have made a notable turn over the past couple of weeks with prices now in the $16.00/cwt range ($7.20/bu).  Actual cash price offers will vary with basis.

It’s notable that we’re now in a price range not seen since early March this year and the 20-day moving average has now surpassed the 100-day moving average.  It will be interesting to watch the market closely moving forward.

Fig. 3.  CME Sept. 2023 Rough Rice Futures, Daily Chart.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2023 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2022 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.