Rice Planting Inches Along In Delta, Heading Starts In Coastal Crop – AgFax

CROP REPORTS

David Hydrick, Hydrick’s Crop Consulting, Inc., Jonesboro, Arkansas

“We’ve pretty much finished planting rice. The cutoff date for prevented planting was May 25. A grower or two might be an exception to that. But if we plant anything now, it mostly will be to finish parts of fields where it rained us out earlier.

“Of the intended rice acres, we probably planted 75% of what had been expected.

“We haven’t really flooded any substantial number of rice acres yet, just a few fields at this point. We are trying to run herbicides now to push the earlier planted rice closer to being ready to flood. We might take some rice to flood by the end of the week. But rain is expected tonight (5/26), so next week we will likely start trying to spray, fertilize and flood everything that’s ready.

“We’ve only had one or two days a week to work, so we’ve pushed really hard when we could. It’s really frustrating to be delayed. This year, rice is where growers can make money, and they’re unable to put in all the rice they want.

“Probably 60% of our soybeans have been planted. The crop is at three stages – we are planting beans, we have beans emerging, and we have beans up to the point that we’re applying herbicides. We tried to apply dicamba on all the soybeans we could before Monday, which was the last day that was allowed, but it’s been hard to make that happen everywhere it was needed.

“None of our beans are blooming yet. I did see a patch blooming, but they weren’t mine, and those are the earliest beans I’ve seen.

“I have Roundup Ready cornfields that are unbelievably grown-up. It’s simply been too wet to spray. Then when it does dry up, the wind blows like crazy, so it’s hard to line up applications.

“Everybody is farming so many acres now, and we’re trying to cover so much ground. Thank goodness for fast planters – we used to plant corn at 4.5 mph, but now we do it at 10 mph.”

Keith Collins, Extension Agent, Richland, Ouachita and Franklin Parishes, Rayville, Louisiana

“We’ve mostly finished planting rice. Growers have been trying to plant between rains, but rains also help to reduce flushings to achieve stands

“A few fields have gone to flood with more to follow soon. The earliest rice I know about was row rice that went in a little over four weeks ago.

“Rice acreage will increase in the parishes I work. Across all the commodity crops we grow, it was the only bright spot in terms of price stability and what the market offered. Row rice acreage has increased significantly, too. Among farmers who went into prevented planting with corn, some of that land may go into rice.

“This has been a wet year overall and more challenging than the last two years when we also had too much rain and tough planting conditions. Compared to 2018 and 2019, this year’s planting season has maybe been a little wetter. The storms also have come through more often, so we never had long breaks to catch up.

“Some soybean planting started in early April in my parishes, and we’re still trying to finish. Maybe 80% to 85% has been planted. The forecast says we’ll move into a little dry spell. If so, we will finish beans then.”

M.O. Way, Texas A&M Entomologist, Beaumont

“Our rice still looks good. Some rice is already in boot and will be heading in the first week of June. So, harvest will likely start in our earliest rice in the first to second week of July. That early start should make for a potentially good ratoon crop.

“Weather gurus predict an active hurricane season this fall. So, early-harvested main crop rice is a good ticket.

“Some problems have turned up with grass control, which is kind of normal around here. No reports of bad disease pressure, but we will be looking for kernel smut this year. It’s been bad the last few years.”

Hugh Whitby, KC Consulting, Wynne, Arkansas

“Growers planted quite a bit of rice at the end of last week. A big part of that was mudded in, thrown out with a spreader truck. It’s not a great approach, but at least farmers planted rice.

“Of the rice I expected to plant, my clients have planted 95% to 100% of it. Some people did quit planting where they couldn’t work out all the ruts from last fall and spring. As much rain as we’ve had, it would take a solid 10 days of dry weather to have the right conditions for doing that fieldwork and planting. As the forecast looks now (5/27) with more rain coming, that’s not going to happen. Growers in the area will go with prevented planting on at least some rice acreage.

“This weather has really worked against everyone. On Friday afternoon (5/22), a storm came through parts of three counties with high-speed straight-line winds. The storm blew down 150-year-old trees, damaged a good many homes, took down power lines, and knocked over several pivots. The storm didn’t hit a wide area, but it caused serious damage where it did move through.

“Where people are planting now, it tends to be in areas where too much rain fell for too long, so the ground is still wet. They’re slinging in rice any way they can, either running a spreader truck or flying it on where the ground is still too wet. Some of the seed is going on ground that’s muddy, at best, or maybe water is standing in places. They’re doing whatever they can to finish some of these last acres.

“Based on the forecast, we’ll move into drier conditions, so any of that late rice planted in June will likely be drilled in.

“With this late push, what will be that final acreage total for Arkansas? South of Interstate 40, farmers have pretty much planted all the rice they’ll have in 2020. North of the interstate – especially from Jonesboro north – conditions have been far wetter. Some amount of that acreage will go into prevented planting, I expect. It’s simply too wet, and it won’t dry up anytime soon.

“Of that 15% not planted yet, most of it is in those northern counties, and that’s where we’re seeing farmers make the late push.

“Some of our very earliest rice has gone to flood. But even with rice planted somewhat later, a significant portion is ready to go to flood this week and next week. With drier weather next week, farmers can apply preflood nitrogen on dry ground before they flood. A large percentage of our acres will be at that point.

“Farmers are hesitating to flood many fields because they don’t think the rice is tall enough. Cold weather held back growth, yet these plants have four or five leaves and will grow fast once you flood the fields and the plants tap into nitrogen. In planting date studies, we’ve seen plants like that double in height faster than you’d think.

“Many of the calls this week have been from those people who broadcast seeds in questionable conditions. They hadn’t pulled levees to manage moisture, and too much of this seed was flown onto mud. Without rain right away, hotter weather and sunlight quickly dried up the ground, and the seeds were lying on the surface. You’ll have to incorporate seed in that situation and put them into moisture if you hope to gain a viable stand. If you don’t act, you probably will have to replant rice or move on to something else.”

Gary Bradshaw, Independent Agronomist, Bradshaw Agricultural Consulting, Richmond, Texas

“We’ve been applying midseason fertilizer on varieties for about the past week (from 5/28). We’re starting to apply fungicides and are scheduling boot applications on hybrids, which will begin the first part of next week.

“Three different rain events developed in the past four days. Fortunately, they came in the evening or at night, so we had pretty nice days. Temperatures were good, and rice wasn’t sitting under cloudy skies all day. The rain did make a mess. Field roads are muddy, and you can’t get around easily.

“The forecast calls for improving conditions, with lower rain chances starting tomorrow and continuing into next week. Rains are nice, and farmers like them because they cut down on pumping, But they also make it hard to get things done.

“Some of the furthest along fields are in the boot with some flag leaves fully emerged. I expect to see heads emerging toward the end of next week.”