On the upper Texas coast, preparing rice fields begins as early as January. Planting begins between March 15 and April 15.
Water management is critical to successful rice farming.
Fields can be flooded one of two ways. Continuous flooding involves flooding the field soon after preparing the soil and seeding the plants in the water. Pin-point flooding floods the field when the plants are tillering, or producing multiple stems. In both flooding systems, maintenance of the water level is most important during the reproductive stage, when the rice plants use water at high rates. Floodwaters, in both cases, are drained about 15 days before harvest.