Does anyone know how to grow rice?

Awhile back I bought a bag of whole grain rice and wild rice thinking I might want to start a .........Oh no!!......shades of a cornfield ..... rice field. Just for fun and curiosity, not to get anything edible,I just to see what would happen.Perhaps in a pot, or as I perceive it, a semi-portable rice field. Not knowing a whole lot about rice cultivation , the package I purchased has several types of rice. I figured I might be able to get one started and experiment with it this summer. I might call it a rice paddy in a bucket.

Any thoughts??

Jerry

P.S. If I knew what I was doing it would not be experimentation.

 

Oh Jerry, It is grown in very wet areas so your little bucket will have to simulate that. I have wild rice not mixed with anything else that I could share with you. Just PM me your address if you would like some via snail mail.:-D I will rush it to you to hurry the planting time. To harvest you will need a little canoe and a special rake of some sort, while flooding the plain. You will also need to hire some very little men for the canoe at harvest time. They must be from Minnesota.

Barb in Pa.

PS It just so happens that wild rice is my favorite kind. If you have a good harvest I will be expecting an invite. I actually had it for dinner last night and this evening. It's one of the more expensive ones. Very nutty. Each grain is 1 inch long.

 

Jerry, I was going to tell you that the wild rice is really a grass grain not rice and that it was harvested with a canoe by the indians, but Barb was ever so much more creative than I was. Oh yeah, it needs slow moving water to grow in...Let us know what you come up with to mimic the growing situation. Thanks

 

Barb, I can make sure my bucket has water in it, unfortunately, now, the water will freeze. Since the water will be frozen, the canoes will not float. This will give me time to recruit people from Minnesota. In the mean time I measured the rice in the bag(see photo). Perhaps I need more expensive rice as the longest grain was 1/2 inch long. Maybe wilder rice? But I still need to know how to get the grains started before the workers from Minnesota get here.

O.K. Carolyn, now I get it. Native Americans from Minnesota. Research needed......I will be back in a minute....... I'm back. Dakota Sioux and Chippewa(Ojibwa). Small canoes to harvest grass. I can have a fish tank pump circulate the water in a bucket

Now I have to segregate the grass, aka wild rice, from the other grains. I hope I don't need Native Americans as the ones in Minnesota are too busy trying to keep warm. Hmmmmm......I do know someone from Minnesota.......but she does not have a canoe.......and I don't think she is Native American.......bummer.

Jerry


Rice and Grass ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden )

 

OK Jerry, OK,OK. I was using my hubby's ruler. I know a Black Foot Indian but she doesn't have a canoe and she certainly is not little. She would never fit into that lil canoe.

Oh well, I have sprouted other funny grains in the past. I will set my pantry grains up for sprouting today just to see if it will happen.

I have red rice, forbidden rice, and oh my! Quinoa. Is this a case of a rice is a grain but not all grains are rices??? Silly stuff. I have so much odd stuff in my wonderful pantry that I don't know what it is but I know I like to eat it.... All in all, wild rice is my very best favorite.

Get-a-growen Jerry.

Barb in Pa.

 

The paddy fields was my play ground for many years when I was growing up. I am sure you can grow rice paddy in a bucket as long as you keep the soil flooded with water.

From your photo of the rice grains, I think you might have a problem germinating those grains because they were dehusked but I maybe wrong. The padi farmers here usually saved some of the rice grains with the husk on for replanting as far as I know. Anyway goodluck with your experiment and sure to let us know of your progress.

 

KK, KILLJOY

Barb in Pa.

 

What we know so far:

Native Americans in Minnesota are, in winter, cold like the rest of us.

We need slow water for grass growing, or something like that. There is a pump in there somewhere.

Jerry is good at separating grains and rice.

Barb has at least three grains/rice in her pantry

She has:

Quinoa from the Andes area of Peru, it has a pedigree 3000 to 4000 years old. A question that will be answered with this winter experiment is: Will Quinoa grow with the saponin removed? Saponin is the outer coating of the grain and is removed before consumption because it tastes bitter.

From the far east she has 'Forbidden Rice' containing 18 amino acids, iron, zinc, copper, carotene, anthocyanin and several important vitamins. Sounds delicious.

And lastly she has 'Red Rice' from perhaps the Kingdom of Bhutan in the eastern Himalayas. Or perhaps cultivated in the wetlands of the Camargue region of southern France. or maybe from a small hamlet just south-west of Andover, Hampshire, England. It came from somewhere.

According to my package I have:


( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden )

First we have to separate the grains.

A tedious job but someone has to do it........


( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden )

Who's who in the package as we line up the suspects?

This experiment (winter ex.#2) will need several containers.

AND!!! unlike the usual proviso given by experts, you CAN try this at home!! Just don't try it with 'minute rice' It will not grow in a minute. KK is right, the husk has long disappeared, rendering it useless. :-(

Will we get a germ(ination) of an idea? Do we need a husk? What else lurks in the pantry??

Stay tuned as this this exciting winter extravaganza unfolds, we'll be up and running in no time........now to find a damp paper towel.........

Jerry

 

Sadly Barb agrees with KK. They won't grow without the husks. I have already put my seeds, Oh I mean, rices on a wet paper towel. I have decided to keep them in a warm place.

Barb in Pa.

 

I will search for un-husked rice. Perhaps a airplane trip to some far eastern country that grows rice......like maybe Malaysia.......who do I know in Malaysia?......or perhaps a local health food store. Decisions, decisions, decisions, exotic travel or the health food store. Hmmmmmm. I guess I will try a local source first as the last time I traveled far away I caught a cold from a coughing passenger. I did not need a cold while on vacation.


Jerry

P.S. I will still try the wet towel and grain.

 

Just in case this experiment does not fly. I have not checked with a store yet but if some member raises ducks, are they not fed 'wild rice,' aka some form of grass? I would think a feed store like A_ _ _ y would carry something of that nature, except I don't raise ducks and do not need 50 Lbs. I'm trying for 20 seeds. Just a thought. Maybe ducks get fed pellets like rabbits. Sometimes being a city-slicker has its drawbacks. :-(

Jerry

 

Jerry, I called my rice company and they wouldn't have any unhulled stuff. They said we could only get it unhulled in the fall.

Try a health nut store. I have called all over the place today. We may succeed. I am still trying to sprout mine. lol

Barb in Pa.

 

Jerry, you do know someone from Malaysia ...me, me, me!!!! :-D Let me know when you are coming and we can go pick unhulled rice grain directly from the plant itself ...err only if I can find a paddy field that is still being cultivated around here.

If the grains did not germinate, just add more water and enjoy a meal out of it!!

Here in Malaysia we do get rice from US and they are caterorized as high grade long grain rice. We have to pay a premium for it which is from Mississippi.

 

KK, That is so funny that you get rice from us. Except for my wild rice all mine comes from your neck of the woods.

Barb in Pa.