Rice insecticide seed treatment considerations for 2012

We have had quite a few inquiries about using a combination of seed treatments, neonicotinoid and Dermacor X-100, in rice. While this practice is legal, using more than one seed treatment is not a practice that we encourage in most circumstances because it results in more insecticide use in rice production than may be necessary. Read on to learn more about the current situation.

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Rice water weevil demonstration program results – 2011

Rice water weevil (RWW) management demonstrations have been conducted for the past four field seasons. The purpose of these demonstrations is to evaluate currently recommended insecticides on commercial rice farms in Louisiana to control RWW. These trials are a joint effort between county agents, farmers, consultants, seed dealers and chemical distributors. In 2011, we compared three insecticide seed treatments (CruiserMaxx, Dermacor X-100 and NipsIt INSIDE) to an untreated check.

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Comments from the South Farm Tour stop at the Simon RWW test site in Acadia Parish

We had an excellent crowd at the final stop of the LSU AgCenter south farm tour in Crowley, La this morning. For those of you that could not attend, here is what was discussed.

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Thrips damaging rice in north Louisiana and MS river flooding

On Friday, Nick and I made the trek to West Carroll Parish in north Louisiana to scout a rice field that Richard Costello had called me about on Thursday. We scouted a hybrid rice CruiserMaxx treated field that is suffering from a thrips infestation. On our drive home, we observed the Morganza Spillway and some of the cropland being effected by the high water levels this year.

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Stand counts at the St. Landry Parish rice water weevil demo site

This blog posting presents pictures of the stand at the St. Landry Parish rice water weevil demonstration site. I also discuss ongoing early-season problems with chinch bugs, rice levee bill bugs, and colaspis.

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More chinch bugs and a reminder about pest spectrum of rice insecticide seed treatments

This morning I received another call about chinch bugs infesting seedling rice – this is the fourth call I’ve had this season, so I want to remind field scouts to be on the look-out for this pest. So far they have been reported in Jeff-Davis, Evangeline and St. Landry Parishes. In this blog posting I also provide a reminder about which insects are controlled by the different seed treatments.

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Rice stand observations at Acadia Parish RWW demo site

Today Anna and I met with County Agent Barrett Courville and Crop consultant Rustin Gilder at the Acadia Parish demo site which is farmed by Glen and Wes Simon. We were pleased to find a healthy, rigorous stand of rice. Much of the field is already at tillering stage just two weeks after seedling emergence! This location was planted with XL745 at #25 seeding rate.

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Planting rice water weevil demo sites in Evangeline and St. Landry Parish

Last week we planted the rice water weevil demonstration test sites in Evangeline and St. Landry Parish. Both locations are the hybrid variety XL745. At each location we will be comparing the seed treatments CruiserMaxx, Dermacor X-100 and NipsitInside to an untreated check.

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Planting at Acadia Parish rww demo test site.

On March 16, 2011 we planted the Acadia parish demo test site. This blog posting includes a description of the treatments, field maps and plans for gathering data this season.

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Making demo test plans in St. Landry, Acadia and Calcasieu Parish

The last couple of days we have traveled the state to meet with cooperators for the rice water weevil demonstration tests. We met with cooperators in Acadia, Calcasieu and St. Landry Parishes.

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