A Report on Growing Rice for Ducks in North Georgia

Cypress Rice Seed

By: Kent Kammermeyer
Senior Wildlife Biologist

Last summer I was given a bag of domestic rice by William Cooper of Cooper Seed Company in Lawrenceville to test for its growth potential in North Georgia. I have a four-acre pond with a flashboard riser stacked with 6 inch boards. In early July, at full pool, we loaded up the seed and cyclone seeder in my 12 foot semi-V aluminum boat and broadcast the 50 pounds of rice in as shallow water as we could run the boat with electric motor and out to depths of about 1 � feet deep. Then over the course of the next week, I gradually dropped my pond about a foot exposing a half acre of mud and creating another half acre of water less than 6 inches deep. The rice is supposed to germinate in up to 6 inches of clear water and it did. I got a very good stand on the mud flat and in the shallow water. My intention was to raise the water back up to full pool to flood the mud flat again, but I could not do it because of the drought. Nevertheless, the dryland rice did fairly well. In August, when it was thigh high or higher and trying to send up a seed head, I noticed a few stalks floating on the water, then a few more, then a lot. Within a two week period beavers and/or muskrats had cut all the stems at ground level, apparently ate a little of the stem and the rest floated away! What a disappointment! Despite the failure, I'm convinced you can successfully grow domestic rice for ducks in North Georgia if you don't have beavers or muskrats or you can practice beaver and muskrat control (usually trapping or shooting). If you have the critters and can't get rid of them, you may want to stick with the old standby Japanese millet.

Kent Kammermeyer
Senior Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Resources Division
Game Management Section
2150 Dawsonville Highway
Gainesville, Georgia 30501


Fertilizer=Results!

One Of The Biggest Mistakes Hunters Make Is Putting Down Too Many Seed And Too Little Fertilizer On Their Food Plots

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