Arkansas Rice Update

Turn the Heat to 11

If you’ve been waiting on the hot and miserable weather to show up, congrats because it’s arriving with a vengeance.  It has been a long time since we had an extended forecast (Fig. 1) with this little rain in it.  It’s a welcome sight as long as it doesn’t turn into a prolonged stretch of hot and dry.

We referenced the “two-week high five” last week, but that’s already ending for some who are turning now to the “two-week facepalm”.  That is, grasses and other issues (fertility) are starting to show themselves more now.  Most of the worries are just that, worries.  Worries are a like a rocking chair, they give you something to do but they won’t get you anywhere.  While there will certainly be legitimate problem fields, often most of the escaped grass we worry about is not yield limiting and is not worth the substantial cost to bring it under control late in the season.  Fertility issues are never fun but most when caught in early reproductive growth stages are easily corrected to full or near full yield potential.

More on the general topic of herbicides / weed control.  There seemed to be a 10-day window where it seems like not much worked for some – didn’t matter the herbicide mix and these same complaints were scattered up and down the state.  Thanks, weather.  Not counting that window, there have been the opposite experiences where some of our apps have run hotter than expected and we need to lower the flood for rice recovery.  Long story short, inconsistent weather leads to inconsistent results.

I’m ready for ample sunshine and warm days to point this rice to its full potential this week.  Keep it watered up and yourself too in this heat.

Read on below for more information on blast, growth staging, progress, and rice markets.

Let us know if we can help.