Hello Hive
July remains one of the most convenient time of the year where rice planting is at its peak.
During these periods, I do less of fashion and sewing work to plant some grains for the family meals.
Every year we receive new technology and improved grains from agricultural engineers and sometimes little support from the government to grow our crops.
The support comes in terms of subsidized price for agric engineered seeds and fertilizer, this goes along way to reduce our cost of production.
The rains started this year in late April and we didn't start planting in my family until June.
Since then my visit to the farm hasn't been so frequent just once in awhile to do occasional work.
The planting of maize, yams, potatoes, fluted pumpkin has taking place but my major concern was to bring to the homesteading family a thorough procedure on the growing of rice from the planting down to the harvesting stage.
The maize has since been posted in stages in the maize planting challenge by @felixxx and hopefully I will bring the next progress stage tomorrow after work in the farm.
The only crop am expecting to yield so fast for now is the potatoes.
Its usually the first hunger attack in the family as potatoes can get ready within two months, them we start feeding on that before corn or any other.
The corn can also get ready in two to three months but we have a lot of drying and processing before we can make corn flower for food unless we just want to boil or roast the corn immediately after harvesting.
Today am talking about the three basic methods of how we propagate rice.
Direct planting method
The first initial stage has remain clearing of bushes in the farm either by cultural or agricultural means through the use of chemicals.
When there was no chemicals
We have used hoes and cutlasses to clear the fields but thanks to technology we have been using chemicals for the last 7 years now.
Alot of learning was done on the kinds of chemicals to use, at what times and which would not be of negative impact on the planted seeds.
I may have a little to write about chemicals in subsequent post
After having a clear field one basic method is direct planting into the soil.
Depending on its water holding capacity.
If the soil is not water lodge we go ahead and plant like this.
Just dig a hole a few cm into the soil, drop from 10 grains of rice upwards and cover with soil lightly.
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Criteria to watch out for while using the direct planting method are listed below.
spacing of seeds
Proper spacing of seed is required for maximum production of rice. Rice is planted directly into the soil with only few cm depth say 3-7cm. A depth lower than that will make grains stay longer in the soil before germinating.
A typical example of proper spacing between grains is demonstrated here.
Typically about one feet apart.
Looking at the pics I planted some grains where my hand is and planted some exactly where the hoe is seated.
Having 7-10 seedlings of rice with such spacing guarantees proper growth and output.
Quantity of seeds
Over crowding of seedlings does not allow rice to carry enough grains or heavy grain heads during harvest.
Each rice seedling is capable of expanding such that the roots comes out very large and handful instead of very tiny and slender stems.
To avoid that at least 7-10 seedlings are allowed to grow per hole and if this is less its not bad at all too.
During planting it is difficult to count 7-10 seeds as this will be time consuming.
So we plant calculated number and after germination we do a kind of seedling reduction.
- Half the number of grain in my palm will be just enough.
That will come up soon as these newly planted grains germinate.
We go from each bundle of seedlings and break away some to reduce overcrowding and improper growth.
Soil type and how depth of propagation.
The type of soil I have is the loamy-clay, Its he best for growing rice. During the dry seasons we have cows grazing on the rice straws and in the process large cow dungs are deposited in our farms and even though we are going to use fertilizers to boost the farming in the later times of the planting season, the animal dungs are so rich enough to sustain the rice for a while.
Planting is done before the heavy rains comes so that the farms will not become waterlogged and seeds get rotten instead of germinating.
So the soil is just damp enough and all we are doing for now is planting.
Am going to watch these newly planted grains and share us pictures as they begin to germinate from week one to two and so forth.
The writeup has gotten so long and it might be just boring to bring the other methods here.
I will be making a part two of this series to show us the other methods one can propagate rice.
Conclusion.
If rice is among one of the major consumed grains, it will be worth it to learn about the new methods and proper ways of growing this grain, most importantly you can follow me on this series of farm blogs let's learn together.