Has spring finally sprung?

March 27, 2011

By: Sean Doherty, California Rice Farmer

What a beautiful day/week this is going to be. The weather forecasters are calling for sustained dry weather and maybe, wait for it, 80 degrees on Wednesday. Halleleujah! The drying north winds are just starting, and are projected to last four days.

I should have tractors working in the fields already, but as you can see from this photo my corn field in front and rice field in back are just a little too wet to work right now. I do have other fields that I hope will dry much sooner and I can finally get spring planting started.

There are some other signs that spring is here too. The mallards are all pairing up and starting to build their nests in any green grass or cover they can find. I also have a killdeer that is hatching four eggs next to my driveway. They build their nests of rocks and their eggs are camouflaged to look like rocks, so my gravel driveway is perfect killdeer nesting habitat.

I’m hoping we've seen the last of the winter rains.

Sean Doherty is a 3rd generation rice farmer living out his dream, being a rice farmer in Dunnigan.

He farms in Yolo, Colusa, and Sutter Counties with his wife Melissa, and three kids, Hannah, Gus, and Mary. He enjoys being in the fields, watching the seasons, and sharing it with his family.

Comments

piero ferrari said:
Hi There I run a rice farm in northern Italy. I discovered your blog: it's really nice! I've got a couple of question. I am interested in knowing how do you manage dikes. While talking to a US colleague I have heard about a diking machines digging a bio plastic film inside the dike to prevent water leakage. Have you ever heard it or are you using such equiment? Second question is more about the technique you are following up there: what is your standard working sequence? All the best from Novara! Piero Ferrari
Jul 11, 2011

Sean Doherty said:
Ciao Piero, greetings from California! I had heard of a dike (levee) device you mentioned but I'm not aware of anyone using one in California. The disc ridger is what is predominately used. You can probably find a picture on the website for Sutter Welding & Equipment Co.( SWECO ). They manufacture the most widely used model, although there are a couple of other brands. We typically don't worry about seepage because.the levee takes 3 - 4 passes to make and with each pass our heavy clay soils get compacted even more by the weight of the ridging tractor. As to our working sequence I assume you mean planting. Over ninety percent of California rice is water seeded from about April 10 through May 20 being the preferred time frame. We begin our seedbed preparation usually in March sometime when the soils begin to dry out. It starts with a couple of passes by a chisel plow usually 8 - 9 in. deep to facilitate faster soil drying and it is our primary deep tillage source. This is followed by a few passes of a disc to breakup the soil and give a finer seedbed. Next comes an implement to level off the field, sometimes elevation controlled by GPS or laser technology. GPS is the newer technology. Then base nitrogen is applied into the soil followed by a dry or liquid starter fertilizer, usually a field specific blend, applied onto the soil surface prior to flooding. The starter fertilizer is applied with a rice roller that leaves grooves in the seedbed where the starter is laid in because when the seed is flown on, it settles in the valley created by the roller where a little bit of fertilizer is waiting for it. Feel free to email any more questions you have and I would be happy to answer them if I can. Good luck with your crop.
Jul 11, 2011