# When is the best time to plant rice.



## PaulD (Apr 16, 2009)

I've got a couple of area's this year I'd like to plant rice but have no experience with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## Arrow3 (Apr 16, 2009)

We wanted to plant some this year too for the first time but the swamps are slap full right now..


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## greg@teamlivewire (Apr 16, 2009)

Drain 'em.  Time to plant is now.  Rice is pretty tough if you can't control the water level.  Japanese millet is definately easier in a swamp.  Rice really needs to be thrashed and its hard to get the right equipment to a swamp.


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## PaulD (Apr 17, 2009)

OK, tell me more about this Japanese millet! I looked at Chufa too but that is far to labor intensive.


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## Nitro (Apr 17, 2009)

PaulD said:


> OK, tell me more about this Japanese millet! I looked at Chufa too but that is far to labor intensive.



If you think Chufa is too labor intensive, then rice is definitely out of the question.

Millet is merely a scatter and wait deal. The results will be mixed - just like Waterfowl hunting in Georgia.

Do a search on this forum. There have been plenty of threads about planting for waterfowl. 

One thing to think about - if you have a high deer population in the area of your duck pond, the food you intend for ducks will most likely become deer food or other birds outside the targeted species.

Good Luck.


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## Dustin Pate (Apr 17, 2009)

Nitro said:


> One thing to think about - if you have a high deer population in the area of your duck pond, the food you intend for ducks will most likely become deer food or other birds outside the targeted species.
> 
> Good Luck.



Oh so true!


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## Nitro (Apr 17, 2009)

Dustin Pate said:


> Oh so true!



This ain't my first rodeo.........

A man would need about 20 acres of ground- laser leveled, with water control devices in place  (under a proven flyway) before the expense and effort of trying to plant rice or other crops for waterfowl would even begin to pay off.

I have friends in SC with hundreds of acres under intense management (professional) and they do good to kill Wood Ducks and the rare teal or Mallard.

Things in the Atlantic flyway have changed- for the worst. 

Take the $2K you will waste on planting for Ducks in Georgia and go have several great hunts in a state where Ducks are actually killed.....

Just my free advice.


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## greg@teamlivewire (Apr 17, 2009)

And good advice at that.

If rice farmers didn't make money farming their crop, we would never know ducks liked rice.  Cause no one would do all the leveling, sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, thrashing, & rolling just to kill ducks.

Nitro, I was up in your neck of the woods today at Legends.


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## PaulD (Apr 18, 2009)

Y;all confirmed what I was afraid off. Duck numbers around here in the last 10 years aren't what the used to be. Hopfully with all the rain this year all there will be more habitat and feed for them


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## Take Em Matt 2 (Apr 19, 2009)

chufa is the worst food plot you can plant. ineffective and a waste of money. broseph.


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## Nitro (Apr 21, 2009)

Take Em Matt 2 said:


> chufa is the worst food plot you can plant. ineffective and a waste of money. broseph.




TEM2, How much real experience do you have with Chufa?? 

I have planted plenty of it for Turkeys. Flood some about 6-12" deep and the ducks absolutely wear it out. 

If you have nothing real to add, please don't ruin every potentially informative thread on this website.


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## MustangMAtt30 (Apr 21, 2009)

Nitro said:


> I have friends in SC with hundreds of acres under intense management (professional) and they do good to kill Wood Ducks and the rare teal or Mallard.



I just got finished reading about "Carolina Gold" being grown in the Low Country.  Interesting read about how the folks there want to bring back rice production.  It focused on the efforts of Dr. Schulze and his son.  The Dr. mentioned that "Ducks" were one of the main motivators for him.  The article didn't go into any detail of the hunting on his plantation though.  Anyway they sell some of the crop and donate rice and all profits to charity.  Sound like good people that understand the heritage of the area and have been fortunate enough to make enough money to live the dream that many of us would love to be able to do.


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## waddler (Jun 14, 2009)

I just talked to my man in AR that looks after our places when I come home for the Summer, and he is just ready to throw out rice on our mudflats in the ponds we hunt. 

No tractor or harrowing, just drain, sow left over rice seed on the mud, flood with water from another pond and then let it come up. 

Set the water level on the rice with the drain pipe after it comes up, 2" is fine for weed control, and leave alone.

Sow all the levees with anything grassy, rice, millet, even bermuda grass, barnyard grass, whatever. The ducks will eat the seeds in the winter as they wash off the levee.

Take what you can get!  Worst scenario is we get grass and smartweed where the rice doesn't take hold. Ducks like that as much or more than anything else.

Cheap, easy, and no thrashing, the ducks will eat the rice right off the stalk.

I tried several acres of chufas, and got zilch. I must have sowed it too late, cause it came up good and made  good stalks. Problem was there never were any nutlets formed and it did not come back the next season. I would not plan on chufas unless I could treat them like a crop. We more or less treat our plantings like volunteers.

waddler


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## Mark K (Jun 14, 2009)

Waddler, I'm surprised you have any mudflats. My source in Arkansas is telling me it's really bad as far as farming goes. Too much water - even for rice. They haven't even thought about beans yet. Could be an interesting year if some our fields don't have any food.


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## MAC DADDY FREAK NASTY (Jun 18, 2009)

But what if you can't contol your water.


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## t bird (Jun 18, 2009)

I planted my Jap millet yesterday in two holes. gonna wait a week or so and plant some more holes just to see the difference and when I should plant next year!


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## waddler (Jun 23, 2009)

The reason we have mud is because we are letting the water off now. The flood on the field is about 1 foot and comes from a natural drainage. We also have a natural reservoir of about 10 acres of yearround water that we can release onto the field after sowing. 

Water control is vital to a reliable  duck hole, without it good results are spotty at best.

waddler


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