Most of Arkansas has received at least some rain. Some areas are in better shape than others. A lot of Command was out for days or even weeks without activating rainfall and most growers did not flush. How much is left? There is no way to know, but not as much as you started with, so put out some more. Emerged grass that is going to be in a lot of the fields must be dealt with.

One consultant called as he was walking in a field. His Command had been out about 10 days, so he will get some activity from the recent rainfall — the rain itself was a good thing. His frustration was he had already killed two flushes of emerged grass with Roundup prior to planting, added Roundup to his Command and still had escapes. As he walked along the field he would comment, “Here is a lot of two-leaf barnyardgrass. No, wait a minute. Here is a three-leaf. Dang! Here is a four-leaf.” And then, “Here is one tillering!” I am afraid that scenario is going to describe a lot of the situations out there.

We had started out talking about a treatment that would be as economical as possible. However, as he kept finding bigger grass (and getting much more frustrated), that thought was abandoned — he must drop the hammer right then. Too much rice was emerging to apply Roundup again. The field is in an area where Facet cannot be applied by air. We decided on Ricestar HT due to the bigger grass, propanil resistance and cool temperatures.

One option for residual control was to add more Command, but we decided to save that for the next trip across the field to extend the residual period. Prowl was considered, but he was anticipating needing to flush to break the crust from the rain. I have experienced loss of Prowl activity when it was flushed shortly after application. I like Prowl much better when mixed with another residual such as Facet.

We decided upon 24 ounces of Ricestar HT plus 3 pints of Bolero. Hopefully the Bolero will contribute to the postemergence activity of the Ricestar as well as provide some residual. The plan is to get out some additional Command with the next trip across the field.

This example is pretty specific, and there were other options to get to the same place — a clean field at flooding (which is a long way off). The first objective in a treatment such as this one is to kill 100 percent of the emerged grass. The other objective is to overlap residuals to prevent more grass from emerging.

In situations where Facet can be used and no grass has emerged, I have recommended a lot of Prowl plus Facet as a delayed pre-emergence treatment following Command. I recommend a one-two punch where possible before grass emergence. Where tighthead sprangletop is an issue, I often recommend Bolero or RiceBeaux plus Prowl as the delayed preemergence treatment following Command. Often this may need to be followed with more Command later. This weed is increasing and one application of Command alone is struggling in a lot of situations.

I have had a lot of pigweed calls in rice already. Normally this is a levee weed, as the flood will eventually control it. However, with early emergence it can get pretty hairy before time to flood. Propanil or propanil plus Aim is about the hottest treatment on small pigweeds, but they do not always just burst into flames.

Where Facet or a quinclorac product is needed, Broadhead or propanil plus Broadhead is a good treatment. If you need a higher rate of quinclorac, Broadhead can be spiked with additional Facet or quinclorac.

Regardless of the situation, the focus should be to kill anything emerged while it is small and overlap residual herbicides.