Cool, Wet Spring Hinders Louisiana Rice Producers

By Dustin Harrell, Louisiana Rice Extension Specialist

"We're still dealing with uneven stands due to uneven germination – some rice came up right away and other rice didn't. In the same fields, we have plants that are ready to take a flood and rice that only recently emerged.

"This is a widespread situation in southwest Louisiana. All this gets back to slow germination in cool, wet soils after our big round of early planting. I might know one grower who doesn't have this problem but everyone else is dealing with it.

"So, the question now is whether to take these fields to flood. The older plants are clearly ready for it but the younger rice clearly isn't. Growers hope to apply herbicides, fertilize and flood without killing the younger rice. On top of that, rain is in the forecast on Friday night and all day on Saturday, so it would be a good time to go to flood if they could.

"My recommendation has been to look at the younger rice that's just emerged and decide if you still would have a good stand if you killed most of that rice by going to flood. If the stand would still be okay, going to flood would be the right decision.

"A lot of these fields will go to flood this week, I think. If not and we go into another wet period, it's hard to say when the next dry period will be. Going to flood now would give you the upper hand on weed control. Otherwise, you could be into some expensive herbicide programs later.

"We've seen these uneven stands here and there over the years, but this year everyone has it. The problem is common, even rampant, and I don't know that it's happened before on this scale. We had that dry window back in March and everyone planted at the same time. The way the weather went, everyone has the problem now.

"A lot of rice is being planted in north Louisiana. Growers are trying to cover as many acres as possible ahead of this next rain."