HORIZON AG REGIONAL REPORTS

Planting Makes Gains After April Rain Delays

North Louisiana and Mississippi

North Louisiana rice planting is coming along nicely. We are around 70% planted. The bulk of the rice was planted after the big rain system that came through during the first week of April and it has not slowed down since. The most popular medium grain variety this year is CLM04, and the most popular long grain is CLL16. With the 10-day weather forecast looking promising, I hope to see the rest of the rice going into the ground.

Mississippi has had a pretty good spring for planting. Similar to north Louisiana, it is roughly 70% planted. We had some planters running toward the end of March but had to stop because of the big rain showers in the first week of April. The South Delta caught about 4-7 inches of rain while the North Delta received 7-12 inches that still has some farmers trying to get water off of their fields.

After that wet first week of April, we had warm weather with strong winds which dried out the fields fast. This caused some problems with the top layer of soil crusting over, making it hard for rice to emerge. After that big rain it was like a switch was flipped and you could not turn a corner without seeing a planter running. CLL18 is the most popular Horizon Ag variety this year in Mississippi, followed by CLL19.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or email me at any time.

Garland Melton
District Field Representative
(662) 671-2465

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Northeast Arkansas and Missouri

The end of March teased us with warm temperatures and favorable planting conditions which sent many of the growers off to the races with planting. The April 2-3 rainfall event slowed planting progress across the Northeast Arkansas and Missouri territories while also sending some acres underwater for a significant period.

Despite dodging rain throughout April, Missouri and parts of Northeast Arkansas are rocking roughly at 75% planted. The Black and Cache River acres are estimated at 40% planted. The USDA-NASS Crop Progress report will be interesting to see early this week.

My Horizon Ag counterpart Chase previously mentioned the challenges of ground crusting and fighting blackbird damage in some of the March-planted rice that went underwater. Surprisingly, only a few acres triggered replanting due to these conditions.

The main challenge came from deciding when to make the call to replant because ‘just one more rain’ could potentially change the story. Luckily, the growers needing to replant were still in that optimal yield window. We could benefit from missing the rain in the forecast in both of my territories to finish up planting. The warmer temperatures this week will be greatly welcomed.

I was able to visit the Horizon Ag seed production fields in Missouri last week. The March planted rice had reached 2-leaf, with plans for spray applications to go out once the wind calmed down. The rest of the production had finished up planting the week of April 14-19. Our new variety, PVL06, looked promising. We’re excited to watch its progress through the season.

Nitrogen(N) fertility programs will be rolling out before too long. Flood rice is simple; most of my territory falls into this management system. In silt loam soils, a two-way split approach of 75-80% of the total N units applied ahead of permanent flood establishment, followed by the remaining N units at mid-season is recommended. The later application should be, at a minimum, 28 days after the preflood N application AND internode elongation (IE) has begun. For clay soils, the same application approach should be implemented with the only difference being to increase preflood rate by 30 units.

In contrast, furrow irrigated rice (FIR) is more intensely managed. There are two options that I consider least risky; first a three-way split can optimize yield across all extremes in FIR fields (as in, upper driest to bottom flooded). Start with applying 46 units of N at the 5-6-leaf growth stage, with the second application coming 10-14 days later with an additional 46 units of N, with the last application 7 days later of the remaining 46 units.

The second option is to apply ½ of a single preflood recommended N rate before irrigation followed by two additional N applications of ¼ of the recommended N rate each spaced 7 days apart. On clay soils, following soybeans, splitting the total in-season N rate into three applications provides the optimal yield when managing clay soils. Start with 75 units of N at 5-6-leaf, followed by a second application of 75 units 14 days later, and the last application of 46 units 7 days later to finish it up. The three-way split is by far my favorite management style, no matter the soil texture.

I want to end by saying thank you for all the support I’ve received from the Horizon team and in my encounters with growers and retailers while adjusting to my new role. I’m extremely blessed to have the opportunity. Feel free to contact me anytime!

Robyn Chlapecka
District Field Representative
(870) 672-1291

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