Horizon Ag: Warmer, Drier Weather Should Give Planting, Crops a Lift

Horizon Ag Field Reports

This is a weedy rice field in South Louisiana that was just sprayed. A follow-up photo will be coming in the next Field Report.

This is a weedy rice field in South Louisiana that was just sprayed. A follow-up photo will be coming in the next Field Report.

 

Southwest Louisiana and Texas:

It has been cool and wet in Louisiana for the past two weeks and the adverse weather conditions have our rice crop looking pretty rough overall. All of the stands looked very good, and things were going well prior to the cold weather. We are warming up this week, however, and our rice will start to look a lot better. We have seen some herbicide applications being made, both in Clearfield® and Provisia™ rice, and will see a lot more throughout this week once soils dry out and temperatures warm a bit. Hopefully, the wind will begin to cooperate, since strong winds have been a challenge over the past few weeks.
 
Rice planting continues; however, we are down to the last 15 percent or so. This last bit of our crop will most likely drag on until late May, as it does every year. Farmers will start draining crawfish ponds and planting rice. We also have delayed planting trying to kill weedy rice. Ross Thibodeaux of Midland, Louisiana, said he would have been done planting if it wasn’t for the weedy rice. “We have delayed planting in some fields so we could kill as many flushes of weedy rice as possible,” he said. “If I would have planted more Provisia rice (PVL01), I would have been done planting weeks ago.”
 
We have had a good year with our Clearfield varieties, and it looks like CL153 will become the most planted variety in South Louisiana in 2018. That title has belonged to CL111 for the past several years, but with the excellent yield potential and milling quality of CL153, a lot of farmers planted more of this variety this year. We have also had an exceptional year so far with CL153 in Texas. This very well could be our best year on record for market share in Texas.
 
As you start to make herbicide and fertilizer applications on your Provisia and Clearfield rice, please give me a call if you have any questions.

Michael Fruge 
District Field Representative
(832) 260-6193

North Louisiana and Mississippi:

The weather has not been particularly kind to us over the last two weeks. We were able to plant in some areas last week (April 10) and saw some decent progress. However, we saw anywhere from 2–5 inches in my area from the rain event on Saturday (April 14). Couple that rain with cool temperatures over the weekend through Monday, and it’s been slow all around. Most of the earliest-planted rice has emerged, and the 10-day forecast looks to be an improvement over the last month.
 
I’d estimate we are between 30-35 percent planted in my area as of Tuesday (April 17), and it looks like some farmers were able to get back in the field in some spots earlier this week. There is a chance of rain this Sunday, so hopefully we are able to take advantage where conditions permit until then.

Overall, planting conditions have not been ideal by any stretch and have compressed progress. However, getting the best start possible will pay off come harvest. Optimistically, the weather will cooperate and we will be able to finish planting quickly, make herbicide applications and get starter fertilizer out where necessary.
 
Please feel free to call me with any questions or let me know if there is any way I can assist you.

Tim Jett 
District Field Representative
(901) 687-6362

Avery Davidson