I’m now going to refer to 2019 as Murphey’s Year – the year that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Seems fitting to me. Others may have more clever names but those might be unfit to print here.
Surprisingly, we were able to describe much of the briefly named Hurricane Barry as being underwhelming. Wind speeds were drastically below expectation to non-existent.
Rainfall amounts eventually caught up to levels predicted but only in hot spots. Those hot spots have some substantial flooding to deal with but, overall, we made it through relatively well.
Some rice levees were blown despite the slow rainfall. Too much water is too much water. At some point, it can’t get any wetter, it can only get deeper.
With fields that have been submerged, we must remove water much faster where rice is reproductive stages. At that point, rice is it’s less forgiving than young rice.
Soybeans seem to be the hardest hit. Every field appears to have at least some dead or severely injured plants due to the flooding. In flatter, more poorly drained areas, entire fields have standing water. They’re gonna burn, baby, burn.
For some, that means *another* replant.
Rice College Registration Closes July 28
If you would like to attend the 2019 Rice College at the Rice Research and Extension Center on Aug. 1, sign up soon! Space is limited and the deadline is approaching next weekend.
