Weather turning warmer, plant growth improving

The Zaunbrecher rice field near Lake Arthur is progressing slowly, like many rice fields in South Louisiana. But Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, is pleased with how the crop appears. With warmer temperatures the crop should begin to grow quickly.

Saichuk determined that some of the plants have a half-inch of internode elongation, shown on in the plant on the right of the picture of two dissected plants. Green ring in both plants is circled in black, and the black line shows the elongation.

Saichuk said the half-inch node is significant. “That’s when you no longer want to make 2,4-D applications.”
Saichuk said the plants will start using more and more water, and he advised Ronnie “Blue” Zaunbrecher to pump up the level.
“This is when rice can use as much as an inch of water a day,” he said.
Saichuk estimates that the rice plants will reach boot stage on June 10, and harvest will be the last week in July.
He said weekly visits to the Zaunbrecher field will focus on scouting for diseases and stinkbugs.
The Rice Research Station field of Catahoula variety is progressing nicely. Thin spots are slowly beginning to disappear as this is the growth stage where maximum tillering (stooling) occurs. The plants are nearing the panicle initiation growth stage which is when the plants begin to shift from vegetative to reproductive growth stages.

Lots of rain

Rice fields across South Louisiana are draining excess water after Thursday morning’s heavy downpour. Young rice plants in the blog field at the Rice Research Station were underwater after getting 4.25 inches of rainfall. Larry White, manager of the Rice Research Station’s foundation seed program, had to make levee repairs and drain off excess water.
Meanwhile, at the blog field grown by Ronnie “Blue” Zaunbrecher of Lake Arthur, a little more than 3 inches fell. Zaunbrecher said he will have 2,4-D sprayed on the field to combat alligator weed.
Cool temperatures are expected tonight and Saturday, with a steady warm-up expected and no forecast of rain possibilities until late next week.

Four herbicides were sprayed Wednesday morning onto the rice crop on the blog field at the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station.
Dr. Eric Webster, LSU AgCenter weed scientist, said the compounds mixed together included Arrosolo for grasses including sprangletop, Prowl for its residual action on grasses, Londax for broadleaf weeds and sedges, and Permit to fight sedges and residual effects on broadleaf weeds. The yellow coloring from the plume of spray is from Prowl.
Larry White, manager of the Rice Research Station’s seed program said that urea fertilizer will be applied by airplane Thursday morning at the rate of 200 pounds per acre (this will be 92 lb of actual nitrogen per acre) then the permanent flood will be pumped onto the field.

Meanwhile at the Zaunbrecher field near Lake Arthur, Dr. John Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, said the crop looks good, but it is growing slowly because of recent cool temperatures.
“It looks good, but it’s just moving slowly.”

Saichuk said green ring stage had been predicted for May 18-20, but now he thinks that will be pushed back by a few days because of the slow growth rate.
Saichuk said farmer Ronnie “Blue” Zaunbrecher will pump some water onto the field to bring up the water level. The week’s rainfall total was a quarter inch, or .7 of a centimeter.

LSU AgCenter Master Farmer Program Includes the Rice Station Blog Field

Not only is the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station blog field being monitored with a webcam a monitoring station takes samples of any water that runs off the field as part of the LSU AgCenter Master Farmer program.
After every rainfall event, Dr. Ernest Girouard of the Master Farmer program, collects samples from monitoring stations at fields across Southwest Louisiana, including the one on the blog field. The photo above shows Girouard preparing the solar-powered monitoring station to collect water samples for the next rain event. To the left is the smaller bottle of collected runoff water that is being analyzed by an LSU AgCenter laboratory in Baton Rouge to determine levels of suspended and dissolved solids, nitrates, chlorides, bromides, sulfates, phosphorous and biological oxygen demand.
The Master Farmer program has been widely accepted by the rice industry with the majority of participants growing rice. It is a great testament to the Louisiana rice growers and their appreciation for natural resources.
Rainfall at the station during the past weekend totaled .69 of an inch, or 1.75 centimeters.
The monitoring stations automatically take water samples when a flow meter senses that water is draining from the field.
The analysis of the irrigation water and water discharged for the parameters listed under monitoring for best management practices will provide valuable information of what is leaving the field after nutrients are applied and what is needed by the rice plant to obtain optimum economic yields.

Catahoula variety seed production

The blog field at the Rice Research Station is a foundation seed field for a new long-grain variety, Catahoula, previously known by its number LA2082 when it was under development.

A research plot of the line LA2082 released late last year as the variety Catahoula.

The variety was developed by Dr. Steve Linscombe, rice breeder and director of the Rice Research Station.
This year’s Catahoula is for foundation seed production, and it will be available next year to plant to produce registered seed. The station produced enough seed for the variety to be grown on over 1,500 acres by seed growers this year. The variety will be available in 2010 for commercial production.
Linscombe said the variety is superior to the varieties Cocodrie and Cheniere in terms of yield and quality. Because the old Arkansas variety, Drew, is one of its parents, Catahoula has good blast disease resistance, Linscombe said.
“We think the variety is going to be a good fit for us,” he said.
The blog field received three-quarters of an inch (2 centimeters) of rain in the past 24 hours.
Larry White, in charge of the Rice Research Station's seed production, said the field will be sprayed with herbicides, fertilized and flooded within the next week.

Rice bounces back at Zaunbrecher farm

Eddie Eskew walks the field to examine the crop's condition.

“That’s a good field of rice,” remarked Eddie Eskew, LSU AgCenter county agent in Jefferson Davis Parish, as he gazed out on Ronnie “Blue” Zaunbrecher’s field near Lake Arthur.
A week ago, the rice looked limp and pitiful after a cold snap. Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, was prepared to recommend another shot of zinc if the weather didn’t warm up.
But Saichuk was pleased with the rice’s recovery. Most of the leaves were upright, and the plants looked much greener. And new leaves appeared to be wider and more robust than the spindly leaves floating on the water.

Comparison of new leaf at the top of the photo and the older, less healthy leaf.

Saichuk said the rice is about to start tillering, and he was pleased that no signs of rice water weevils could be found.
For Zaunbrecher, the field’s improved condition is a huge relief, even though he admits he knows a struggling rice crop usually will bounce back and make a good crop.
“This is the hardest time for a farmer, the first 6 weeks, to make it come through the water,” he said.
The rain gauge showed 1.38 inches since last week. Zaunbrecher said a thunderstorm with hard rain and hail passed over his house early Wednesday morning.

Young rice struggling

Good news and bad news at the Zaunbrecher field after a walk through the field Wednesday.
The herbicide used for the Juncus has soundly knocked the weed down. “That’s the best job on Juncus I’ve ever seen,” said Dr. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist. In the photo below, the dead Juncus can be seen at the base of a rice plant.




But he was concerned that the rice is looking feeble and much of it is laying on the surface of the water.
He said it’s likely that the cold temperatures during the past few nights have induced the problem.
“We need some warm weather,” Saichuk said.
Young spindly rice plants are susceptible to being knocked down by wind, he said, but the field is handicapped by low zinc levels.
In the photo, you can see the lazy rice plants.






By the weekend, temperatures are expected to climb back into the 80s.
“If that doesn’t perk it up, we’ll add another gallon of zinc per acre,” he said.
That same rate of zinc was used when the herbicide flown onto the field only a week after it was planted.


Meanwhile, back at the Rice Research Station, Larry White has pumped water onto the 21.25-acre seed production field to flush it. The field was fertilized Tuesday by air with 8-24-24 at the rate of 250 pounds an acre on Monday. The red chunks on the ground shown in the photo below are particles of fertilizer before the field was flushed.