UC Rice Blog

A couple of weeks ago, a PCA brought me some grassy "weeds" from a field. The plants had ligules, so they weren't watergrass or barnyardgrass. The leaves were thin and long, but did not look like sprangletop; they just looked like "elongated" rice plants.

Summary Winged primrose willow is an invasive weed that was identified in Butte County rice fields in 2011. Most infestations were along borders of fields and canals; however, this weed can thrive in the flooded environment within rice fields.

The season is advancing and fields are starting to go into tillering. I have always been amazed at the capacity of rice plants to adapt to the conditions of the field, producing more tillers in thin stands and less tillers in dense stands.

We received several reports of tadpole shrimp (TPS) problems this year. One field I visited had to be replanted due to TPS damage. Flooding of this field took a long time, resulting in checks that were flooded for more than 10 days before the field was seeded.

Once again we may be facing a difficult planting season. Stand establishment, weed control, and nitrogen management are particularly problematic in wet springs. Below are a few points that you might want to keep in mind. As always, if I can be of assistance don't hesitate to give me call.