UC Rice Blog

We are seeing severe armyworm infestations in the field. Moth numbers have stayed relatively constant in a few locations, still on the increase in Sutter and Yolo counties. This means that egg laying may continue and we may have more worms coming up.

It may be a bit early in the season to start thinking about herbicide resistance, but in just a couple of weeks, most rice growers will have put out their last herbicide applications, and it will be time to start scouting.

Over the past year, weedy rice has become a top issue in California rice, both for individual growers and for the industry as a whole.

I went out on a few farm calls in the past week, and have noticed a trend. Due to the unusually wet weather this spring, some of the weeds are already producing seed out in the field! This occurs when the field was moist or wet in the spring, and was not tilled or sprayed prior to planting.

I have received reports of significant defoliation due to armyworms from several areas: Glenn, Colusa, Butte and Yolo counties. In most areas the defoliation is severe but the area affected within fields still small. I inspected a field in Glenn County.