AgFax Rice - Louisiana

By AgFax.com, AgFax Media LLC

OVERVIEW  

More rice is going to flood in the Midsouth – by the hardest. Popup showers are keeping ground too wet in places to apply pre-flood nitrogen. Nearly all of our contacts this week noted how disruptive these rains have been and how variable – little or nothing on one field but heavy accumulations down the road.

The coastal crop is progressing. More rice in southwest Louisiana is at or a bit past green ring. Midseason nitrogen has started in Texas.

If forecasts hold, a tropical system in the gulf will bring more rain to parts of our coverage area over the Labor Day weekend. That will further delay standard pre-flood nitrogen applications where ground remains wet. See comments by Jarrod Hardke.

No significant pest issues were reported this week but Extension workers urge people to scout closely for rice water weevils (RWW) – especially in areas where cold weather stalled early plant growth. By now, activity has played out with the more widely used seed treatments.

LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS

Dustin Harrell, Louisiana Rice Extension Specialist, LSU Rice Research Station, Crowley:

"Most of the rice in southwest Louisiana is at or a little past green ring and looks pretty good. While showers have been developing, other areas continue missing rain. The biggest problem in southwest Louisiana is keeping up with pumping.

"In northeast Louisiana, a lot of that rice is either moving to flood or has just been flooded. It's dry up there but every afternoon – as if on schedule – popup showers occur between 4:30 and 5:30. These are really localized and isolated events. I've been in that part of the state for the last 3 days (from 5/24) and have seen places where a quarter-inch of rain fell but everything was dry just across the road.

"On the radar, the rain is showing up as little green blips. Where people haven't fertilized yet but caught some of these rains, they'll have to wait a while before they can apply nitrogen on dry ground.

"No disease issues or other problems are turning up. Overall, the crop actually looks good across the state."