There are many weed messes in Arkansas rice fields. In a lot of situations treatments were delayed one to two weeks because of high winds. Then it got extremely dry in a lot of areas. A lot of fields that needed moisture to make herbicides work were at an in-between stage — the rice was not big enough to flood but too far along for the farmer to want to flush with high-priced fuel.

This will make for some interesting post-flood situations.

In a lot of areas soybeans and rice were being planted at the same time in adjacent fields. I have had a lot of questions about some of the safer treatments to use around soybeans.

Ricestar HT and Clincher have no activity on soybeans.

Storm and Blazers are old soybean herbicides and can fit in some situations for broadleaf control.

Aim will usually give only some temporary burn on soybeans unless someone really gets carried away with a drift.

Surprisingly, Facet and Quinstar are relatively easy on soybeans. A drift will strap some leaves, but the effect is usually temporary. I have recommended a lot of Ricestar HT and Facet or Quinstar in fields where soybeans were a concern.

Ricestar HT plus Command has also been a good choice on some of the younger rice adjacent to soybeans.

Most farmers have experience with propanil around soybeans for years and pretty much know what they can and cannot do with it.

Duet is tougher on soybeans because of the Londax component.

Regiment, Permit, Strada and Grandstand are all more difficult to use around small soybeans.

Several people have recommended combinations of Regiment, Permit and Grandstand. That is a heck of a broadleaf mix, but it will kill or severely injure soybeans — often from long distances.

For big grass preflood, I have recommended a lot of Ricestar HT plus Facet or Quinstar at 24 ounces plus 0.5 pound followed by the flood. I keep hearing Facet is short, but you should be able to find Quinstar if you call around.

Quite a bit of Ricestar HT plus Regiment has been used in some of the “big grass and other messes” situations. This treatment gives excellent control of barnyardgrass, signalgrass, loosehead sprangletop and a lot of broadleaf weeds. The one weed to avoid with this mix is tighthead sprangletop (Christmas tree grass).

Ricestar HT is best with tighthead sprangletop preflood, but it takes a full 24 ounces and you cannot stand any possible antagonism from anything. The same is pretty much true for crabgrass.

A lot of Ricestar HT is going out with Newpath for sprangletop control in Clearfield rice. I use pretty much the same rule of thumb. If it is loosehead sprangletop, I usually recommend just raising the Ricestar rate to 24 ounces and tank mix them. However if it is tighthead sprangletop, I recommend separate applications.

There is no doubt we will have fields with grass coming through the flood. Clincher is usually the best choice if the grass problem is broad spectrum. Adding some Facet or Quinstar often helps tremendously.

Where the problem is barnyardgrass only, I usually recommend Regiment because it has been more consistent if used with the recommended adjuvant package.

There will be a lot of escaped sprangletop in both Clearfield and conventional rice. Both Ricestar HT and Clincher have good activity on it. Ask different weed scientists and you will get different opinions on which one is more consistent. With both, tighthead sprangletop is more difficult to kill than loosehead. Use the highest rates on tighthead.

Remember the cutoff at panicle initiation on Beyond or Raptor on Clearfield hybrids. For that reason, consider a preflood application of one of these if you suspect you may need a salvage treatment later.