OK... This time the land increased slightly by 0.5 acres to a round 4 acres. We chose to plant the traditional seeraga samba in 0.5 acres and a sanna variety hybrid for the rest.
No Farm Yard Manure (FYM) this time before planting. We directly started the seed bed. Another important decision we made this time was to reduce Panchakavyam spray to just once after transplant and once in the seed bed. We used Amirtha Karaisal twice.
I must admit that my local handy man was very worried at the foolishness of the city dweller (oops now the Videshi or US dweller). In fact the one spray of PanchaKavyam was for his benefit as I wanted to only use Amirtha karaisal.
Limited weeding was done to satisfy local sentiments. They are just trying to save me :-) so I indulge their essential goodness. Of course Neem oil with Neem soap spray for insects (only once).
Seeraga sambha grew well confirming the sheer strength of traditional seed. But after flowering and the formation of paddy the plant became heavy and started bending down. In hind sight, I feel i should not have sprayed Panchakavyam for this. The hybrid variety also did well.
I mentioned that last time I got 16 bags of 70 to 80 kgs per acre. This time I got 1 or two bags more!!
Without allowing the paddy to get old, in our curiousity, we made a little rice out of both the varieties.
FANTASTIC!! unlike last time, both the sanna varieties did not get overcooked and it was very good.
So there you go. You know where to reach if you want good organic rice :-)
No Farm Yard Manure (FYM) this time before planting. We directly started the seed bed. Another important decision we made this time was to reduce Panchakavyam spray to just once after transplant and once in the seed bed. We used Amirtha Karaisal twice.
I must admit that my local handy man was very worried at the foolishness of the city dweller (oops now the Videshi or US dweller). In fact the one spray of PanchaKavyam was for his benefit as I wanted to only use Amirtha karaisal.
Limited weeding was done to satisfy local sentiments. They are just trying to save me :-) so I indulge their essential goodness. Of course Neem oil with Neem soap spray for insects (only once).
Seeraga sambha grew well confirming the sheer strength of traditional seed. But after flowering and the formation of paddy the plant became heavy and started bending down. In hind sight, I feel i should not have sprayed Panchakavyam for this. The hybrid variety also did well.
I mentioned that last time I got 16 bags of 70 to 80 kgs per acre. This time I got 1 or two bags more!!
Without allowing the paddy to get old, in our curiousity, we made a little rice out of both the varieties.
FANTASTIC!! unlike last time, both the sanna varieties did not get overcooked and it was very good.
So there you go. You know where to reach if you want good organic rice :-)
Ranga Can you confirm the utsavam dates in tiruvali? Am planning to be there.
ReplyDeleteRajan.