Insect Control

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • After the discovery of rice delphacid in an El Campo, Texas, greenhouse last winter and a possible sighting recently in Victoria County, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist has cautioned growers and consultants to be...

• By Gus Lorenz, Nick Bateman and Ben Thrash • Rice stink bugs have been relatively quite so far this year. We are still seeing a large number of rice stink bugs, although mainly nymphs, on turn rows feeding on...

• By Bruce Schultz • Scientists at the Louisiana State University AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station detailed their work in an online field day presentation July 1. Mike Salassi, LSU AgCenter vice president for plant and animal science, said...

2 non-native stink bugs prompt questions about treatment thresholds, spray timings in Florida rice. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Since it was first confirmed about 13 years ago, an exotic rice stink bug from the Caribbean and Central and South America...

Arkansas revisits rice stink bug thresholds, finding they still balance grain damage with grower profitability. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • As two southern rice-producing states changed their rice stink bug thresholds, reducing the number that would trigger treatment, University of Arkansas...

Epidemic levels of kernel smut and false smut were prevalent in the 2019 Louisiana rice crop. While smuts have always been a common problem in northeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta rice-growing regions, smuts were never really a concern...

RTWG Awards Luncheon recognizes peers for exemplary work. Every two years, rice researchers from around the United States and even the globe get together for the Rice Technical Working Group. This year, the two-day event was hosted by Mississippi State University...

Research finds rice can take more armyworm defoliation than previously thought without yield loss. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • After two years of field and greenhouse studies, University of Arkansas entomologists say they feel confident about recommending against treating most fall...

Begin scouting early to catch the pest before it can cause significant yield loss. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • For three out of the past five years, growers and consultants have found the rice planthopper in scattered fields of second-crop rice...

There are several nutrients we should pay close attention to when it comes to rice production. Along with nitrogen, the most important nutrients to monitor include phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and zinc. When I make farm visits to evaluate nutrient problems,...

Bucket traps aid University of Arkansas research into new row-rice pest, control measures. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • University of Arkansas entomologists continue their quest to learn more about the rice levee billbug, a weevil pest that until recently only caused...

• By Bruce Schultz • Farmers at the recent Northeast Louisiana Rice Forum heard about the benefits and challenges of growing row rice. The practice uses irrigation with collapsible poly tubing or rainwater to keep soil moist, but no permanent flood...

The 2020 versions of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture publications on managing insects, weeds and plant diseases are now available online, through Cooperative Extension Service offices across the state, and, in one case, as a mobile-friendly...

Severe defoliation in rice from a large flight of fall armyworms in 2016 led researchers with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture to develop a new defoliation threshold, said Nick Bateman, assistant professor and crop entomologist. It is...

The one silver lining for the 2019 rice season in Louisiana was that we had a dry September, and many growers were able to work the ground and prepare for the 2020 season. It was a way to close...