In the last two weeks, I visited a couple of fields suspected of having blast. After looking at the symptoms and the distribution of the lesions in the field, we determined that the injury we were observing was most likely due to herbicide burn.
We have had some interesting calls lately concerning issues we do not usually see in the fields. We have received calls about small circular areas with snipped rice in fields west of I-5.
I have been hearing rumbles about grasshoppers in the Valley, mostly in grasslands. I visited a rice field last week with high grasshopper populations. Most of the grasshoppers were near field borders at a density of about 2-3 per square yard in the most dense areas.
Last year was a blast year. I first saw leaf lesions in some fields right about heading time. In other fields there were no leaf lesions, but neck blast developed later.
