South Arkansas: Rainfall and cooler temperatures were welcomed by most growers this past week. Desha County received 4.3″ rainfall while Monroe County only received 0.2″. Ashley and Chicot County welcomed 0.75″ to 1″ rainfall.
Rice stink bugs (RSB) are sporadic again this week decreasing in some fields while Ashley County was running from 8-15 at 75% heading requiring an insecticide treatment. Small numbers of fall armyworms (FAW) have been detected this week in Lee, Phillips, and Arkansas Counties. Most FAW are small and are low on the flag leaf yet there are a few large ones that follow you into the pickup.
No substantial leaf or head damage has been noticed. The next scouting will hopefully determine that there isn’t a “blow up”. Sheath Blight disease continues to be present but very low on plants and number of positive stops. The DD50 predicts the Jefferson County row water field drain date is 8/1 and draining should start sometime in the next week.
North Arkansas: All fields are headed and maturing rapidly. Sweeping for RSB and making sure there is an adequate flood to finish out the crop is the focus now on every field. Scattered thunder showers have given a bit of relief for the latter in a few fields but in others keeping the ground covered with water means the pumps are running as long and hard as they can be pushed.
But so far, we have managed to keep up with the water demand in every field. We are still finding RSB in all fields but thankfully the numbers have remained low and no new treatments were needed this past week.
At least five fields will be advanced to the higher threshold of 10 RSB per 10 sweeps this week which, given the speed this crop is maturing, gives a realistic possibility of outrunning the pest in those fields. Time and continued scouting will tell.
Please refer to the linked pdf for field-specific information: RICE RESEARCH VERIFICATION UPDATE – August 1 2016
