Rice is tricky when growing as a food plot instead of crop. It makes blank head that can get you all excited but if you go run your fingers through it, they're empty. Two things, one you mentioned - it needs fertilizer and two, you have to check for disease and bugs. Rice actually doesn't need flood to grow, the flood is more for weed and pest control (it does need water, but not constant water). Weeds mixed in isn't bad, the whole "dirty rice" thing is a big movement among duck people in MS Delta but the bugs (stink bugs, aphids, and rice borers) are what can kill you, it can take some high-dollar chemical to get those.
The other thing about rice is timing. You don't have to plant it as early as the farmers because you're not going to try for a second crop but you have to plant it early enough that it is blooming in the hottest part of summer.
I've always told people, sure - strow some out but the average wildlife plot would make more seed with more manageable inputs growing weeds than growing rice. But if you're a rice farmer, plant and I'll talk you into growing a few weeds to go with your rice!in an agriculture situation, rice certainly out produces. But in a food plot where rice might not get the fertilizer it needs or pesticide it needs to fully produce, lots of weeds will produce more - smartweeds and barnyard grass and foxtail comes to mind. Sprangle top - more seed but tiny tiny and panic grass. You could probably get spike rush to grow out there too. You'll get some different types of sedge to grow out there if it stays damp. You can grow a LOT of duck food without planting anything. Maybe think of it like weeds as the buffet but planted food as the ice cream...
The other benefit to growing weeds is you can cut you some pockets or holes or lanes if it gets too tall but you can't do that with planted stuff our you'll be baiting.
The other thing that is a great benefit that we haven't talked about to rice (and milo) is all the structure it provides to bugs/invertebrates once it is flooded. if weeds are the buffet and planted food the ice cream then invertebrates are the eggs and bacon!Lot's of good info in these posts!totally possible. But then you can't manipulate any holes or lanes if they made seed so be careful there. Cultivating weeds for ducks is called "moist soil management" and there's tons of resources on the old Google. The biggest problem for most people is sesbania/coffee weed will need to be treated young so grass and other weeds can get established.
Depending on the size of your place you could rotate with millet. Divide your place into thirds. Plant one section, let it volunteer/grow weeds next two years. Year two, plant the middle section, year three, plant the last section. You might get good enough at growing weeds you don't have to supplement with millet but it would give you time for a learning curve. And growing weeds is a good back up to army worms or bad rain timing.
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