Blanket Pre-emerge: Mississippi producer begins weed control early

摘要

Producer Nolen Canon just about blankets every rice acre, including Clearfield rice, with a pre-emerge herbicide. "A pre-emerge is grass control insurance," explains Canon, who farms near Tunica, Miss. "If you get into a real wet environment, the pre-emerge application typically prevents huge grass pressure that competes with the rice. "We normally use Command and vary its rates according to soil types. We go from one to five ounces on heavy ground, and if we have some lighter ground, we might go from one to six ounces. We normally apply Command as close to planting as possible -the application is usually chasing the drill because, at that time of the year, you can be working one day and rained out the next. We like to start planting the first day of April as soon as the ground is dry and finish as soon as we can. I'd rather have it all planted and maturing at the same time than take a chance on having a lot of late rice because spring rains delayed planting.