Circles for Rice | Weekly Update

In the last week,  four of the fields have had applications of Karate for army worms, plus Quadris for possible disease issues.

We need to keep watching closely for insects, disease, and development of wheel tracks.

Everyone is asking when we can start slowing the irrigation, but most fields are at least seven to ten days away from cutting back.

To maintain quality,  we believe center pivot irrigators need to keep relatively good moisture (less than 30% depletion) in the root zone through early soft dough, and then gradually allow the depletion to increase.  All of this does depend on temperature and moisture-holding capacity.

I hope to see some of you next week at our field days in Missouri and Arkansas!

Circles for Rice | Weekly Update

I am back in the U.S. after traveling for two weeks in France and Spain.  I visited farmers, customers, and Valley Dealers.

Now, I personally need to catch back up on the rice project, and I will be visiting the fields this week.  Kelly Downing has done a great job following the crop development.

Current situations growers are facing include:

• Potential damage from army worms
• Have seen some signs of damage; everyone needs to be watching their fields
• Extension service recommended using Karate
• Developing "spots" in fields believed to be related to nutrient issues
• Soil and plant samples have been collected
• Reviewing the analysis as little data exists for nutrient levels for center pivot or linear irrigated rice
• No confirmed brown spot or blast in any fields
• One pivot has gotten stuck and the grower has worked through this with the Valley Rice Team.  A number of reasons contributed to this situation.

All fields are in various stages of heading.

The rice under center pivot in Texas is beginning to mature and we have begun to reduce the water applications.  Unlike flooded fields, where there may be a couple of inches of water on the soil surface and the soil profile is saturated, we are typically operating between 5% to 30% depleted with a center pivot.  This means there is not as much water "stored" in the soil profile and irrigation must continue to ensure a good quality crop.

Our Mid-South Field Days are next week!  Come visit us in Missouri and Arkansas on August 3-5.  For more information, and to register for one or more field days, please visit www.CirclesForRice.com .  

Attention Rice Growers! Field Day Reminder

Valmont Irrigation, RiceTec, and the University of Missouri Delta Research Center will be hosting rice Field Days in August!

What:     Rice under center pivot Field Days

Where:  Tuesday, August 3, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              University of Missouri Delta Research Center
              147 Highway T
              Portageville, Arkansas, USA 63873
              LAT 36 25' 19.8516", LONG -89 41' 56.3928"
           
              Tuesday, August 3, 2010 | Registration @ 3:00 PM, Presentations @ 4:00 PM
              Clinton Building/Donny Deline and Patrick Hulshof's fields
              501 Campanella Drive
              Sikeston, Missouri, USA 63801
              LAT 36 53' 24.3816", LONG -89 34' 3.6042"
              Meet and greet at the Clinton Building Community Center.
              Field-to-field transportation will be made available.
              Dinner at the Clinton Building will follow presentations.

              Wednesday, August 4, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              Dennis Robison's field
              Neelyville, Arkansas, USA
              County Road W5.  5 miles straight south of Naylor.  Turn west on County Road W5.
              LAT 36 30' 01.08396", LONG -90 37' 01.6716"
              Continental breakfast will be available at the field.

              Thursday, August 5, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              David Feilke's field
              Scott, Arkansas, USA
              LAT 34 35' 27.8196", LONG -92 07' 55.6782"
              Continental breakfast will be available at the field.



To Register: rice@valmont.com | +1-800-825-6668 ext 6032 or ext 3505 | www.circlesforrice.com 

Rice Growers: Donny Deline, Patrick Hulshof, Dennis Robison, David Feilke
Valley Dealers: MidValley, Ag H2O

All Field Days are open to the public. However, we do request that you please pre-register! Register by July 21 and receive a welcome gift at the Field Day!

We look forward to seeing you down South in August!

Another Article about Rice Blogs

The Delta Farm Press published an article earlier this week about the debut of rice blogs.

"Paul Coreil, LSU AgCenter vice chancellor for extension, said the blogs are good examples of using technology to distribute research-based information to producers. 'Innovations such as these blogs are cheaper than mailing material to farmers and accessible 24 hours a day to anyone,' Coreil said."

To read the article in its entirety, please visit www.DeltaFarmPress.com.

Circles for Rice | Weekly Update

United States

Last week, I visited the rice fields down South.  Some observations have been made:

• We need to watch the wheel track depth in a couple of fields, as a couple of spots in some of the fields are deeper than we would like.  In each case, this is occurring on drive units using 14.9 x 24 or smaller size tires.
• Dr. Gene Stevens at the University of Missouri Delta Research Center has advised that they have seen some brown spot and are going to treat appropriately.  
• We have another field that may have brown spot and we are currently reviewing this thoroughly.  If we do treat this field for brown spot, we will use between 12 and 15 ounces of Quadris per acre.
• One field continues to run with lower-than-optimum pivot pressure, which is causing fairly poor sprinkler patterns.  The flow is lower than we expected, running about 6.1 gpm/acre, which is more than likely too low for this particular field.
• Fertility questions have continued to pop up, so we are sampling more fields by collecting soil and tissue from areas that look "good" and from areas that look "poor."  This sampling will provide us with a comparison since there is very little data both for rice production under center pivots and rice production on light-textured soils.
• The yellowing field from last week is definitely looking better since having ammonium sulphate applied.
• As stated before, we need to closely watch the depth of water being applied.

One field is about 3% headed, and several are in early-to-mid boot stage.  Some fields have received over 12" of irrigation this growing season from the center pivot.

Valley is coming a to a rice field near you!  If you live near Sikeston, MO, Corning, AR, or Scott, AR, come visit us at one of our Field Days in August!  Updates and reminders will be posted to the blog; registration is available by phone (402-359-6032), email (rice@valmont.com), and web (www.CirclesForRice.com).

Attention Rice Growers!

Valmont Irrigation, RiceTec, and the University of Missouri Delta Research Center will be hosting rice Field Days in August!

What:     Rice under center pivot Field Days

Where:  Tuesday, August 3, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              University of Missouri Delta Research Center
              147 Highway T
              Portageville, Arkansas, USA 63873
              LAT 36 25' 19.8516", LONG -89 41' 56.3928"
           
              Tuesday, August 3, 2010 | Registration @ 3:00 PM, Presentations @ 4:00 PM
              Clinton Building/Donny Deline and Patrick Hulshof's fields
              501 Campanella Drive
              Sikeston, Missouri, USA 63801
              LAT 36 53' 24.3816", LONG -89 34' 3.6042"
              Meet and greet at the Clinton Building Community Center.
              Field-to-field transportation will be made available.
              Dinner at the Clinton Building will follow presentations.

              Wednesday, August 4, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              Dennis Robison's field
              Corning, Arkansas, USA
              County Road W5.  5 miles straight south of Naylor.  Turn west on County Road W5.
              LAT 36 30' 01.08396", LONG -90 37' 01.6716"
              Continental breakfast will be available at the field.

              Thursday, August 5, 2010 | Registration @ 8:30 AM, Presentations @ 9:00 AM
              David Feilke's field
              Scott, Arkansas, USA
              LAT 34 35' 27.8196", LONG -92 07' 55.6782"
              Continental breakfast will be available at the field.



To Register: rice@valmont.com | +1-800-825-6668 ext 6032 or ext 3505 | www.circlesforrice.com 

Rice Growers: Donny Deline, Patrick Hulshof, Dennis Robison, David Feilke
Valley Dealers: MidValley, Ag H2O

All Field Days are open to the public. However, we do request that you please pre-register!

Circles for Rice Field Day

Last Tuesday, June 29, Valmont Irrigation and RiceTec hosted an open Field Day at Kevin Hoffman's rice field in Eagle Lake, Texas, USA.  We feel the attendance was great with around 100 total attendees.



We started the day with a luncheon at RiceTec (Eagle Lake Facility); the food was wonderful (which included rice) and the conversation rich!  We then moved to the rice field where presentations were given and the center pivot was turned on and demonstrated.

Presentation topics included:

• Characteristics of the most effective Hybrid seed options
• Recommended chemical and fertilizer applications to control weeds, diseases, and insects
• Recommended irrigation scheduling and sprinkler options
• Irrigation equipment and controls
• Energy and water conservation

Presenters included Mr. Kelly Downing (Valmont Irrigation), Mr. Jerry Gerdes (Valmont Irrigation), Mr. Don Mooring (Valmont Irrigation), Mr. Jason Hester (Peerless Equipment, Valley Dealership), Mr. Derrol Grymes (RiceTec), and Mr. Jon Wahn (NRCS).



For the most part, the weather cooperated.  It was really hot for us Nebraskans, though we may be getting a taste of the heat this week! 

We'd like to thank RiceTec, Peerless Equipment, Kevin Hoffman, all attendees, and all Valmont staff members for their preparation and participation.  You helped make this Field Day a success!

Check out the Web page on www.CirclesForRice.com regarding our 2010 Field Days; click here. 

For more information on future Field Days and events, please subscribe!  Announcements will also be made on the www.CirclesForRice.com homepage as they become available.

New Observation

An observation we have seen in very lightly textured soils under a center pivot is new emerging leaves appear yellow (photo on right).  Tissue and soil samples were collected in both areas of healthy plants and areas of yellowing plants; these were then taken and examined by specialists at the University of Missouri Delta Research Center, where a conclusion was made that the yellowing was caused by a fertility issue.  The analysis was run by the Delta Center Soils Lab, and, while there were no specific recommendations for center pivot irrigated rice, it appeared that sulfur may be the culprit.  Ammonium sulfate was applied and watered in the field on July 3, 2010.  We will follow up with the issue this week.

New Observation

An observation we have seen in very lightly textured soils under a center pivot is new emerging leaves appear yellow (photo on right).  Tissue and soil samples were collected in both areas of healthy plants and areas of yellowing plants; these were then taken and examined by specialists at the University of Missouri Delta Research Center, where a conclusion was made that the yellowing was caused by a fertility issue.  The analysis was run by the Delta Center Soils Lab, and, while there were no specific recommendations for center pivot irrigated rice, it appeared that sulfur may be the culprit.  Ammonium sulfate was applied and watered in the field on July 3, 2010.  We will follow up with the issue this week.

Circles for Rice | Weekly Update

The 2010 rice crop season continues to be a challenge; but, then again, how many years are not!

Weeds are a continuous issue in both the United States and Ukraine.  However, the fields with full ground shading are ahead of the game.  In the past week, we have seen in some fields development of patches of Johnson grass and shatter cane, and, of course, pigweed is a problem.  The Delta Farm Press recently published an article by Ford L. Baldwin on the current weed situation in (flooded) rice fields:

"I am getting the normal midseason rice herbicide questions. With the difficulty a lot of folks had getting herbicides applied timely, there will be some escaped grass."

Please click here to read the article in its entirety.

Overall, though, the Rice Team has rated the weed control as good/excellent across the fields.

Irrigation management is a continuously critical factor, and we recommend applying more water as the rice crop matures (per our observations on the loamy sand to clay loam soils); HOWEVER, we do not want the water moving from where it is applied (ie: runoff - photo on the right).  Some fields can take up to .75", while other fields are limited to only .5".  We must also be careful to cover the field and return to the driest areas in a timely fashion.  Remember that the rice root system is much shallower than corn, cotton, and soybeans, which means that there is a small volume of soil to manage.



We also need to keep an eye on the pressure at the pivot point (photo at left).  As pumping levels change, we have observed a reduction in the pivot pressure; if the pivot pressure is below the sprinkler chart (design pressure), the depth of water applied is reduced.  This reduction can lead to the situation as shown in the picture below where, due to reduced pressure, the correct overlap is not maintained and streaking has developed in the field.  The darker areas are rice plants exhibiting signs of moisture stress, while the lighter areas are plants that have adequate moisture.





We have started to collect infrared images to help identify issues in the fields, which we then compare with adjacent flood fields (photo at right).  Please note the half-circle center pivot and the flood field in the lower right-hand corner.  We like to see uniform color across the field.

I know this is a lot of information for one update!  If you have any questions about any of the observations, please ask away in the Comments box below.