Rice ?

QUACKADDICT · Postby **QUACKADDICT** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 10:54 am

Don't know much about growing rice. As a matter of fact, I don't know anything about it other than scattering seeds and fertilizer. I'm trying to talk members of the duck club I belong to here into planting rice next year. They tell me I'm crazy, that you have to flood rice for it to grow. I'm looking to you guys for help on this one. Can you plant rice like you would, say wheat or rye? By that I mean, will it grow a head if you don't flood it? :?:

MSDuckmen · Postby **MSDuckmen** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 10:58 am

will it grow a head if you don't flood it?
No

QUACKADDICT · Postby **QUACKADDICT** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:09 am

Thanks Duckmen. You didn't leave much room for debate on that issue!! :shock:

webbmaster · Postby **webbmaster** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:26 am

Is it necessary to plant a field if there is enough wild weeds and plants growing?

I have been told by several DU employees over the past few years that if you have a field that has a substantial amount of wild plants it will do fine. When it floods, you use a boat to make a hole and the ducks love it.

I am not sure if I am wording this correctly. Obviously a rice field will attract ducks, but letting a field grow naturally (especially in a location where ducks have been before) is a good tactic.

QUACKADDICT · Postby **QUACKADDICT** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:35 am

Maybe so, maybe not. I've just always felt more confident that the ducks would be more attracted to some sort of grain that they didn't have to hunt so hard for. Kind of like us. If you had the choice between eating at a buffet that was prepared for you and having to go around hunting for your food, which would you choose? :lol:

webbmaster · Postby **webbmaster** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:53 am

I guess I meant they like the wild stuff as much as beans or rice.

Could you sit around and eat just rice all day?

If they like an area, and the selection of food varies, then they will probably hit it.

I see what you are saying, though. But its not necessarily a question of if you could eat filet rather than sirloin, would you do it?

Bama Duck · Postby **Bama Duck** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 12:48 pm

Just wanted to comment on your first question:

Rice will grow and head out with out flooding it, the only
reason farmers flood rice is to keep the weeds out of it.
But if you are planting it for the ducks it does not matter if
a few weeds get in there. We planted rice in our holes this
year (around early June) and it has headed out fine and is
about waist high. We had it drilled, with natural irrigation (rain).
However, if your looking for something easy to plant (broadcast like wheat) that the ducks love you need to plant Japenese Millit. The
ducks will also eat the natural vegitation (Smart weed) if you can
get a good stand of it with out having coffee weed that is 12 foot tall in it.

Wingman · Postby **Wingman** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 1:50 pm

Exactly, rice will grow without being flooded. The water has nothing to do with it heading out. The flooding is for weed control...as some weeds cannot grow through the water. Once the rice gets a certain height, you can flood it, keeping the top of the rice out of the water. If you cover the rice up completely, it will die also. I've got a duckhole in rice right now. I take a lift pump out there every 3 or 4 weeks, to pump it up and keep it moist. But the water doesn't stay on it very long. It will grow just fine.

Wingman
ISAIAH 40:31
http://www.fowlmood.com

Wildfowler · Postby **Wildfowler** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 1:56 pm

If you had the choice between eating at a buffet that was prepared for you and having to go around hunting for your food, which would you choose?

I would choose hunting for my food.... At least that's what I would prefer to do. Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing?

QUACKADDICT · Postby **QUACKADDICT** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 2:55 pm

Thanks for the rice info guys. We generally plant Jap millet and corn. This year the corn grew about two feet tall and had no ears due to the draught. The millet is about ten feet tall though. Hopefully, we will continue to get rain so the pond will flood in time for the season. There are a great many weeds and grasses under the millet, so maybe the "total package" (wild and planted foods) will attract them.
I have also heard of something called wild celery rice. Anybody have any dealings with this stuff? I hear you can broadcast the seeds in shallow water or on land and it will grow. Just thinking of ways to provide the ducks with a reason to stop by ponds where I can't control the water level. :roll:

SkippyJ · Postby **SkippyJ** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 4:23 pm

QA I grew some in a dove field on the side of a hill one year for a bet. Headed out fine and I had fun with that free C-note!!!

Postby **judge jb** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 6:57 pm

Rice will do fine as wingman said, but it will not hold its germination for a year... be sure that the rice seed you purchase has a germ and date tag on it...... been there and done that...... don't fall sucker for those Biologic rice seed that retail for 150 bucks a bag for the low-low price of 10 dollars....... better to get your seed out of a farmers bin......

a better check is to throw a handfull of seed in a bucket of water, if it floats it ain't good...... i aint no rice farmer, but i have been bit.......

judge jb

QUACKADDICT · Postby **QUACKADDICT** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 7:29 am

Thanks Wingman and Judge. Hope your skies are blue and full of ducks this year!!

tunica du4u · Postby **tunica du4u** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 6:57 pm

I have a 10 acre "willow hole" that i have planted rice in for the past 3 years and makes plenty of rice with nothing but mother natures water. Dry years we have to run close to a mile of poly pipe to flood it to hunt. This year I tried tropical corn in that hole. This corn is a sweet corn from Brazil, that is highly heat & drought resistant and 90 day maturity. I planted it on July 5th and it started tasseling and putting on ears a couple weeks ago. No worm or bug problems this year so far. I went & checked it this evening and that field is as pretty a field as you ever saw. Stalks are 6-7' tall and loaded. That ought to be a honey hole this year. As a bonus I ate some of the sweetest sweet corn tonight for supper as I have ever had

Wingman · Postby **Wingman** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 10:11 pm

Hehe, I went into the ole duck hole that I planted rice in...about 3 weeks ago. Grasshoppers had moved out of the nearby vegetation and eaten every single blade of rice in my hole! I got the pump and pumped it for a couple of days. The rice has come back out now, some of it is heading out, thankfully. But I mean those stinkin' grasshoppers mowed it clean down. Good ole Mama Nature. I've never planted any of that tropical corn..might have to try it next time.

Wingman

Rice ?

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