Rice is a colorful species, with black, white, purple and red varieties.
When you grow rice organically, you skip synthetic fertilizer in favor of animal and green manures. You also control weeds by rotating rice with other crops. In addition, if pests invade your rice bed, you resort to natural methods of control to eliminate them. Rice requires up to six months of temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit and high humidity to grow. In the United States, rice production is viable in the southern states and California. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Select a planting bed that receives full sun all day and drains poorly. Remove all weeds and incorporate 2 inches of manure into the soil with a rototiller, or use a pickax and spade if the area is small.
2. Soak the rice seeds in water for 24 hours after the temperature outside has begun to hold at 75 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Allow the seeds to drain on a screen mesh or in a colander for 24 hours. Have 1 oz. rice seeds for every 100 square feet of planting area.
3. Make 1/2-inch-deep furrows and sow the rice seeds. Pat them down to bring them into contact with the soil. Separate rows by 1 foot.
4. Cover the seeded area with straw mulch.
5. Install a soaker hose and irrigate the seeded furrows generously to make the soil wet. Keep the soaker hose running continuously to maintain the soggy ground. Rice seedlings usually sprout within one week of planting.
6. Apply mulch to the area around the base of the rice plants as they sprout to choke weeds and reduce water evaporation. Use straw, shredded bark or wood chips. Increase the height of the mulch ring as the seedlings get taller until you have a 4-inch-deep mulch layer.
7. Thin the seedlings to one for every 3 inches of space when they reach 5 inches in height.
8. Pull weeds as soon as they sprout. Refill the area with mulch as it breaks down to stunt weed development.
9. Harvest the rice when the tips of the plant fall over and turn brown. Cut the grain head just below the tip.
10. Bake the harvested grain pods at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes in a baking pan. Remove the rice from the oven and let it cool.
11. Rub the rice between your palms to separate the grain from the husk. Blow gently to retain the grain and remove the husk from your hands, a process known as winnowing. Your rice is ready for cooking.
Tags: degrees Fahrenheit, rice seeds, area with, soaker hose, they sprout