AgFax Rice - Louisiana
By AgFax Media, LLC
OVERVIEW
Cold weather and rain have held back planting and/or emergence across much of the Midsouth.
In southwest Louisiana, a big portion of the crop is tillering but is too short to take to flood. Farmers made an early, smooth start with planting and rice pretty well emerged. But a couple of cold stretches kept plants from gaining enough size for pre-flood nitrogen and normal flooding. It's a quandary, for sure. See comments by Dustin Harrell.
Much of the Texas crop west of Houston has been planted, while weather delays east of Houston have stalled the process.
Herbicide applications are on hold on a wide basis, several of our contacts noted this week. Where rice already looks stressed from below-average temperatures, growers are waiting for plants to strengthen a bit ahead of spraying.
LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS
Harold Lambert, Consultant, Innis, Louisiana:
"A little of our rice has been planted. Although they're not a consistent problem, we're coming up to the period where armyworms might be an issue. Their host at this time would be annual grasses but those aren't taking off in most cases due to the cold weather. I can find an armyworm in wheat if I look hard enough but it's nothing threatening.
"A few early soybeans are up but the weed and grass development has been slow, as well. We've had two cold fronts now on those few acres of early beans and both the crop and the weeds are moving in slow motion. Most corn is up and looks healthy but also is growing slowly."
Hank Jones, C&J Ag Consulting, Pioneer, Louisiana:
"Rice is moving very slowly due to cold weather and very little is up. We had 300 acres planted on March 20 and it took all of 3 weeks for it to come up to a stand. It really had it tough up front, but it was up enough last week to be considered a stand.
"Growers got in the field again last week and ran as hard as they could before it rained again. We've had 2 to 3 inches of rain every week, which isn't conducive to making progress. It's still not late, but if we get another couple of rains and cold fronts, that could put us later than we want to be. We need a good 10-day spell to catch up.
"I do have corn up. As bad as conditions have been this spring, we have had no replants in corn. We questioned stands in bottoms in certain fields but then finally decided they were good enough. Before the rain last Friday (4/13) we had a warm period, which perked up the corn. Some guys are planting beans on sandier ground and ridges. No cotton planted yet."
Dustin Harrell, Louisiana Rice Extension Specialist, LSU Rice Research Station, Crowley:
"The season in southwest Louisiana got off to a pretty quick start, with about a two-week window with dry weather. A big part of the crop went into the ground all at one time. But after the rice was planted and it had emerged, cold conditions set it.
"We're seeing some symptoms of cool temperatures and wind damage. Beyond that, we have plenty of rice that's tillering and should be ready for its pre-flood nitrogen application. However, with these cold conditions, plants are too short to go to flood. It's not just that they're short, but we've had a lot of wind, which can stack water against field edges and submerge small plants if fields do go to flood.
"This is a fairly unique situation, I think, and we're seeing these short tillering plants across multiple varieties and hybrids. Some of these tillering plants are less than 4 inches tall or at least the newest leaf isn't much taller than that.
"This was actually one of the smoothest starts to planting down here in a number of years. Typically, we start flooding rice about 4 weeks after emergence. But this year we're beyond that on a good many acres. With rice being this short, people are questioning whether they should put on a flood. But with rice tillering, it's critical to apply fertilizer.
"In north Louisiana it's pretty wet. Some rice was planted up there, but they've received more rain than in southwest Louisiana. Between that and their heavier clay soils, a lot of planting has been on hold. Rain is in the forecast up there for the weekend. But if they miss that, they should be able to plant on a wider basis."