Similar to what was done with the disease survey last month, UC Cooperative Extension will be surveying rice weeds this fall. The 2019 survey is being funded by the Rice Research Board and there are plans to repeat the survey every five years.
“In the past, I would say four to five years, we’ve had a bunch of new weed species suddenly appear and we don’t have a lot of information about how they’re distributed,” said Whitney Brim-DeForest, UC Rice Farm Advisor serving Sutter, Yuba, Placer, and Sacramento Counties. “We just want to have a better historical record going forward of all the weeds that we have in rice country and where they’re all located.”
Some of the new weed species that have appeared recently include winged primrose-willow, monochoria, and two different types of new watergrass. The survey is being conducted now to get a better baseline for the presence of weed species, as opposed to during the rice-growing season when some weeds might be controlled through herbicide applications.
Listen to the report below.
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