by Carl Fannon
Simon Says, Inc.
Holly Grove, Ark.
When I was a young teenager looking for something to do to make extra money, Jeff Calloway, an independent seed and chemical dealer in Holly Grove, hired me to “sweep up.” Later, he sent me out with his representatives to help me learn the consulting business. I worked for and learned from Jeff for 13 years before taking a job at a Terra location when I was 26. Ten years later, I left to start my own consulting business – Simon Says, Inc. – in 1998. While I was at Terra, ag pilot Randy Everett jokingly said that farmers couldn’t make a decision without “Simon” telling them what to do. He always called me Simon instead of Carl, so I ran with it when I opened my own company.
In looking back at last year, we didn’t have a lot of hot weather. It was cool and wet, which delayed planting dates two to three weeks, resulting in some late rice. Because we didn’t have optimum heat units as the rice got closer to maturity, our yields were off some in 2014 compared to what we harvested in 2013.
Barnyardgrass And Red Rice Control
Barnyardgrassis the No. 1 weed in our area, followed by red rice. The program that we normally use for this pest is to come in with Super Wham, then apply Grasp or Grasp Xtra with Facet when we go to flood. In places where we have continuous rice, sprangletop issues or escaped barnyardgrass, we apply RebelEX once the flood is established to take care of any weed issues at this time. It’s one of my goto products. Sometimes we make this application later, but most of the time we come in with RebelEX after we have a flood established.
Where dayflower is becoming a problem, most of the above-mentioned herbicides do a pretty good job of controlling it, too. If red rice is present, farmers plant Clearfield varieties and use Newpath to fight this weed. Where pigweed shows up on the levees, we try to take it out early with propanil when making a blanket aerial application. In some places, we can still put out 2,4-D at mid-season, but most of the pigweed is controlled early with propanil. However, in some cases, farmers do have to spray the levees individually.
Field-By-Field Philosophy Remains In Place
For insect control, we rely on seed treatments to take care of rice water weevils. Where we have a moderate number of rice stink bug, we piggyback an insecticide with a fungicide application just prior to heading to try to save an application if we can wait that long.
Although plans can change between now and planting, I believe we will see an increase in rice acres this year. My strategy for 2015 is to continue using a field-by-field approach when making recommendations to give my farmers the most bang for their buck.
Recap: Stick To Field-By-Field Strategies In 2015
1.The 2014 season was cool and wet, which delayed planting dates two to three weeks, resulting in some late rice.
2. The program that we normally use to combat barnyardgrass – the No. 1 weed in our area, is to apply Super Wham, followed by Grasp or Grasp Xtra with Facet when we go to flood.
3. In places where we have continuous rice, sprangletop issues or escaped barnyardgrass, we apply RebelEX once the flood is established to take care of any weed issues at this time. It’s one of my go-to products.
4. Where dayflower is becoming a problem, most of the abovementioned herbicides do a pretty good job of controlling it, too.
5. If red rice is present, farmers plant Clearfield varieties and use Newpath to fight this weed.
6. Where pigweed shows up on the levees, we try to take it out early with propanil when making a blanket aerial application. In some places, we can still put out 2,4-D at mid-season.
7. For moderate numbers of rice stink bug, we piggyback an insecticide with a fungicide application just prior to heading.