North Arkansas: Much like the rest of the state, north Arkansas is experiencing droughty, extremely hot conditions with wells working overtime to keep up. Currently, all the rice verification fields in north Arkansas are past midseason and with rice water requirements high at this time, all the verification fields have maintained an adequate flood level. The one positive from these conditions is disease pressure has been low. A few reports of sheath blight getting cranked up in very susceptible varieties are swirling, but all and all, it has been a light year. As we near the boot stage in north Arkansas, decisions for kernel smut preventatives will become more frequent based on variety, nitrogen fertility, and field history.
South Arkansas: Extreme drought is in full swing across much of Arkansas. The triple digit temperatures are building heat units fast. Irrigation demands have reservoirs and rivers extremely low. Four fields are at the late boot stage and three fields are at ½ inch internode elongation. One field is at panicle initiation and one is early tiller stage. Several fields have received mid season and late boot fertilizer applications. Sheath blight has shown up in CL 111 and CL 151 in Chicot County. Roy J in Arkansas County also has treatment levels of sheath blight. The CL 111 in Chicot County is at late boot to early heading stage.
| County | Variety | Stage/Harvest | General Information |
| Arkansas 1 | CL XL 745 | Harvest Date 8/10/12 | Field harvest 199 bu/acre dry. |
| Arkansas 2 | Roy J | Fully Mature | Field received 3.4” rainfall. The field is draining. |
| Arkansas 3 | CL 151 | Fully Mature | Field received 1” rainfall. The field is draining. |
| Chicot 1 | CL 151 | Harvest Date 8/21/12 | The field harvest was a record 242 bu/acre dry. Slight smut on the south end of field. N-Star worked very well. |
| Chicot 2 | CL 111 | Harvest Date 8/21/12 | Field harvest 182 bu/acre dry. |
| Clark | Francis | Soft Dough | The area finally received 2.6” rainfall. First decent rain since April 10th. Ouachita River rose enough for pumping back up the field. We will have to wait and see just how much damage due to lack of water. Stink bugs running 4 per 10 sweeps. |
| Desha | CL XL 745 | Medium Dough | Stink bug counts are at threshold. Recommendation: Karate 1gal to 60/acres. |
| Jefferson | XP 753 | Hard Dough/Mature | A twenty acre side of the field was accidently sprayed with a herbicide after the field was flooded delaying maturity. Half the field is ready for harvest the other half is two weeks behind. |
| Lincoln | XP 753 | Fully Mature | The field should be harvested at any time. |
| Lee | Roy J | Fully Mature | The field should be harvested this week. |
| Phillips | CL XL 745 | Fully Mature | The field should be harvested this week. |
| Clay | XP 753 | Hard Dough | The well was turned off last week and the field should be drained and harvested within the next few weeks. Very little noticeable difference is being observed in maturity on the area where the Newpath drift affected the rice early season. |
| Conway | XP 753 | Hard Dough/Mature | The field was drained a few weeks ago and should be harvested within the next few weeks. Sodium Chlorate will be recommended on the field due to the extremely later maturing volunteer rice. |
| Craighead | Roy J | Fully Mature | Harvesting field as of this writing. |
| Cross | CL 151 | Soft Dough | The well has been turned off and could be drained within a week. Harvest is a few weeks off due to maturity differences caused from inconsistent stand establishment. |
| Independence | Jupiter | Hard Dough | The field should be harvested within the next few weeks. |
| Jackson | Taggart | Fully Mature | Harvesting today if moisture low enough. |
| Poinsett | Jupiter | Hard Dough | The well was turned off a week ago and we expect to drain the field this week. Harvest should be within the next few weeks. |
| Prairie | CL XL 745 | Fully Mature | The field is expected to be harvested this week. |
| Randolph | XL 723 | Hard Dough | The well was turned off last week. We expect to drain it later in the week and harvest in few weeks. |
| White | Taggart | Hard Dough | The field was drained today and we expect to harvest in the next few weeks. |
