Colaspis strike Concordia Parish rice

Over the weekend Sebe Brown scouted a field in Concordia parish where the stand was being severely reduced by colaspis larvae feeding on seedlings. The recommendation was made to establish a shallow permanent flood to avoid further injury. Establishment of a flood on the field will prevent further feeding injury by the colaspis larvae and eventually the larvae will die. The use of pyrethroids will not provide control of colaspis because they are injuring the crop below the soil line.

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The terrible trio – sugarcane beetles, chinch bugs, and colaspis – plus more bill bugs

More reports of chinch bugs, bill bugs, colaspis, and sugarcane beetles in rice. An update on our rice water weevil demonstration test. Also, the summer field meeting schedule is starting to shape-up.

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Colaspis confirmed in Jefferson Davis Parish

This morning I admired the moon setting over University Lakes on my way into campus. Wait a minute, I was biking into campus by moonlight? Yep, a sure sign of field season – early mornings and long (but exciting) days. Today we headed down to Jefferson-Davis Parish to scout a couple of fields that were suffering from stand loss due to an unknown cause. In one location we are still trying to determine the cause. In the second field we scouted we confirmed a fairly severe colaspis infestation. We met with Farmer Kyle Fontenot, Consultant Ron Smith and Nicky Miller at the field which is located between Hathaway and Elton.

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2009 Louisiana rice insect survey – part one

Anna and I have been working together to summarize the 2009 Louisiana rice insects survey data, and the graphs are now starting to take shape. We observed some interesting trends. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll post a series of blogs that will summarize some of the highlights of our findings. Thanks to all who participated in the survey. If you didn’t participate last year, don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to comment on what happened in the 2010 production season when we hand out surveys at the winter meetings in January.

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The Evangeline Parish LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service Annual Rice Field Clinic

This is a reminder about the rice field clinic to be held tomorrow morning. Reeton School road is located about 2 miles south of the caution light on Hwy 13 at the Mamou / Oberlin rd. intersection. At Reeton School rd. turn east, go to the 1st curve, (1 mile), and continue straight on the field rd. You should be able to see vehicles straight ahead of you on the field rd.

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Colaspis causing damage in Evangeline Parish

Today I met Dr. Dustin Harrel (Rice Agronomist, housed at the rice research station at Crowley) at his agronomy test plot location in Evangeline Parish. Dustin had called me last Friday because he was seeing stand reduction in his test plots and found that colaspis larvae were causing the damage.

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Stand Emergence with Dermacor X-100 and CruiserMaxx

Today we met with cooperators in St. Landry to look at the differences in stand emergence between the insecticide treated (Dermacor X-100, CruiserMaxx) and non-insecticide treated seed (fungicide only). There was a visible difference between Dermacor X-100 and untreated seed, but no visible difference between Dermacor X-100 and CruiserMaxx. We’ll return to take stand counts in about two weeks. These first few weeks of the test are critical for detecting colapsis damage, if it occurs.

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Planting demonstration sites in St. Landry and Evangeline Parish

Yesterday we planted two demonstration sites. We started bright and early at Charlie Fontenot’s farm in St. Landry Parish. In the afternoon, we moved over to the Morein Farm in Evangeline Parish. Both sites were successfully planted before the rain began in Evangeline Parish last night.

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Acadia Parish Entomology Demonstration Sites

This morning I met County Agent Barrett Courville at the Acadia Parish Extension office. Barrett grabbed his rubber boots and we headed out to meet with Mr. Rustin Gilder at the Hoffpauir farm. The weather was perfect today – some fields we visited were firm enough to walk on. If the weather holds, a lot of rice will be planted in the next week. The first rice was water-planted in Jeff-Davis Parish last Friday.

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St. Landry and Evangeline Parish rice demonstration sites

Yesterday I visited with cooperators in Evangeline and St. Landry Parishes to discuss this years demonstration sites.

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