The 2013 Arkansas rice crop was about 40 percent headed as of Aug. 3, even though DD-50 numbers indicate nearly 80 percent of the fields should be at 50 percent heading.

“Don’t be surprised if DD-50 estimates are five to seven days off,” said Jarrod Hardke, Arkansas Extension rice specialist. Cold weather in May “threw one big monkey wrench in our heat unit data because of the unpredictable plant response to the cold.”

In the Aug. 3 University of Arkansas Rice Update, Hardke said, “We continue to slip later based on recent weather. Our cooler than normal temps – day and night – have had something to do with that.”

In fields still not headed, growers should watch for sheath blight, said Hardke. Reports of the disease have not yet reach the level expected with rain and cool temperatures, “it is still moving up the canopy in some fields,” he said.

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The treatment threshold for sheath blight in rice is 35 percent positive stops in susceptible and very susceptible cultivars and 50 percent in moderately susceptible cultivars.

For a complete update on the Arkansas rice crop, including the situation with rice stink bugs and diseases, download Arkansas Rice Update 8/3/2013.

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