2010 blog field has been planted

This year's LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station web log begins with the planting yesterday (March 29) of a 9.5-acre field near the station's rice bins. It's the same field featured in 2006, this blog's first year.
The field was planted with the medium-grain variety Jupiter, developed by the LSU AgCenter and released in 2005.
The seeding rate was 26 pounds per acre and the seed was treated with Dermacor for rice water weevil control, gibberillic acide to promote early growth and dithane fungicide.
Research associated Shane Theunissen is driving the tractor, shown above, pulling the seed drill. Larry White, manager of the foundation seed program at the station, said the seed is being planted at a depth of about three-quarters of an ince.
If all goes well, harvest should take place in early August. You can watch the crop's progress by using the link on the right side of this screen that directs you to a web camera installed near the field.
In the picture below, Davis Dautreuil, LSU AgCenter technology ace, is shown preparing the webcam.

Romaine field is harvested

Because of rain, two days of harvesting were required for Durel Romaine’s 40-acre field near Kaplan. He started Friday, but rain late in the afternoon forced him to stop with just a few acres remaining. Saturday provided enough dry weather to finish.
According to Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, Romaine’s field of the CL151 variety yielded 56.5 barrels, which is 91.5 hundredweight or 203.4 bushels. Drying the rice to 12 percent moisture will decrease the total to 53.8 barrels, 87 cwt. or 193.5 bushels.
To kick off his second crop, Romaine is flooding the field today and having urea applied at the rate of 200 pounds per acre.

Jazzman Field Harvested

The field of Jazzman at the Rice Research Station was harvested yesterday afternoon.

Larry White, manager of the station's foundation seed program, said the yield came out to 50.2 barrels per acre. That also works out to 180.7 bushels per acre, or 8,132 pounds.

It took about 4 hours for the small combine to cut the 6 acres, and it was completed as storm clouds moved over the area. Bill Leonards, farm manager at the station, is at the helm of the combine in the photo above.

The other field featured in this blog on the farm of Durel Romaine is expected to be harvested Wednesday.

Time to drain the fields

Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, told farmer Durel Romaine that it’s time to turn the water loose on the blog field in preparation for harvest.
“With the weather pattern you’ve got right now, you definitely need to drain,” he said.
Rainfall is possible for several days now, so that could add to the time needed to get the water off the field.
Saichuk is holding a panicle in the picture above. He said the rice on the panicles are showing two-thirds to three-fourths maturity, so that tells him harvest is only 2-3 weeks away.
He will make a return visit to the field in 2 weeks to gauge the amount of grain moisture, indicating when harvest could be done.
In the meantime, Romaine said a nearby field will be ready in 2-3 days to harvest, but the weather could interfere.
Back at the Rice Research Station, the field of Jazzman will be drained Friday. Larry White, the station’s foundation seed manager, said draining will only require removal of one pipe. He expects harvest could be 3 weeks away.
“It looks good,” White said. “I don’t see much disease.”

Rice doing well after heavy rain

Rainfall varied across south Louisiana this week. Some areas received several inches, while some got less than an inch.
The rain gauge at the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station showed 4.46 inches from Tuesday until Thursday, with most of that on Tuesday.
The field of Jazzman rice is growing well. With little wind this morning, the pleasant aroma of the variety was quite strong.

In the picture to the left, a frog clings to a leaf on a rice plant.


Some of the rice plants in the field, such as the one photographed on the left, have just finished flowering.

Larry White, the station’s foundation seed director, said harvest could occur by mid-August.
Durel Romaine said his field near Kaplan, also featured in the blog, got less than an inch, which means his pumping cost will be reduced by that amount.
Romaine said the water in canals that he uses for irrigation have 50 to 60 grains of salt but the runoff from the rain didn’t appear to fill ditches that feed the canal.
Romaine said he’s not worried about salt in the water at this point because at most he is 3 weeks away from harvest.
Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, said Romaine is probably 10 days to 2 weeks from draining the field in preparation for harvest.

Fungicide applied on Durel Romaine's field

Durel Romaine’s field featured in this blog was sprayed Thursday with Stratego fungicide upon the recommendation of Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist.

Saichuk said this week’s visit to the field turned up more disease than the previous week, including blast, sheath blight and cercospera.

He said the heads were just starting to emerge from the boot. Although fungicide was optional, Saichuk said, “this field is too good not to protect it.”

Fungicide application

The blog field at the Rice Research Station received a preventive dose of fungicide this morning. The photo above, taken by Dr. Steve Linscombe, shows the application by airplane.
Dr. Don Groth, LSU AgCenter pathologist, said Stratego was applied to prevent problems with blast, cercospera and sheath blight.“Stratego is a good broad spectrum fungicide,” Groth said. Disease is present at the water line of the rice plants, he said, but it is being suppressed by hot, dry weather. If frequent rains began, he said, a disease outbreak would be likely and rice plants in the heading stage are more susceptible to disease.
The rice plant heads are just starting to emerg. Groth said it’s possible that the field could do without fungicide, but Groth said the material was used to insure that the foundation seed produced in this field is of the highest quality possible.