New blog post from Punch Haskell: Early Season Hurdles

The calendar says June, but you wouldn’t know it based on our weather to date. This is the second straight cool spring, which is not ideal for our rice crops, but it’s likely only a temporary setback.

On the positive side, our newly planted rice seedlings are emerging and in some places have three inches high or taller. When the weather is cooler, it seems that there’s an opportunity for good root growth, allowing the plants to become well anchored and take in plenty of nutrients.

One potential challenge could be how weeds will react to this weather. Will they develop at a different stage than normal? We’ll have to remain vigilant.

The crop is about a week and a half behind where I’d like to see it, but hopefully it will catch up when the temperatures rise. A later maturing crop could be a challenge, especially if we don’t have a dry start to fall when rice is harvested.

Warmer weather is coming. It would be nice to have the more traditional California heat sooner than later.

---

Punch Haskell grows rice in Colusa County and is part of a family farming operation that began approximately 60 years ago.