Sister Ahua's Weed Management: Practical Tips from an Old Farmer
At the "Farmer Writing Training Workshop" in New Taipei City, a farmer from Xingjian Village in Yilan County came along - Sister Ah-Hua, who owns five fen (about 0.5 hectares) of paddy field.
On the first day of class, Sister Ah-Hua said, I kept wondering whether I should come or not; the rice seedlings I just planted in the field need me to tend to the weeding.... The whole group of trainees had finally been assigned a classmate who truly comes from a farming village, and they treated Sister Ah-Hua like a "national treasure"! One after another they were itching to try, rolling up their pant legs and clamouring to go "into the field" to help.
Arriving at Sister Ah-Hua's home, the surrounding area is farmland, and beside the farmland runs an irrigation channel, so clear you can see the bottom, with the best organic spokescreatures – golden clams and mud snails. In the paddy field, the seedlings planted on March 17 are already a lush green. Sister Ah-Hua said, in a few more days when they grow a bit taller, when the wind blows you'll see waves! The paddy fields to be weeded today are this one, that one, and the one over there.... With a big wave of her hand, for city folk who have no concept of how big five fen is, this scale could be called "sea" level, so... today we're going to "go to sea"! When will we ever finish?
Who would have thought, there is hardly any weed in the paddy field. The group members asked, Sister Ah-Hua, did you trick us into coming to Yilan for fun? Sister Ah-Hua proudly said, I have the tricks taught by the old farmer Uncle Oji-san, let me take you to see my secret mechanism!
The secret weapon for weeding - water control
Sister Ah-Hua walked to a section of the field ridge and stopped, where there was just a small stretch piled with fewer than ten stones of different sizes, and you couldn't see anything special about it at all. Sister Ah-Hua said, these stones are quite clever, they are the mechanism for controlling the water level! Sister Ah-Hua casually picked up one stone, and the water immediately gushed into the lower neighbouring field. You can restack the stones according to the water level needed, and one field can have several such water level control spots; in this simple way you can control the water level of a field.
But... what does water level have to do with weeds?
Sister Ah-Hua continued, matching the growth needs of the rice, when transplanting the seedlings you let the water out, and the soil only needs to be moist. After about 3 to 5 days, release water again to flood it once and moisten the soil; at this stage the rice seedlings are growing roots, and after about another 10 days, once the root system has grown well, the water level should be kept at about 1 cm or more. At this point you can use the water level to suppress weed growth!
The principle is that the water in the field must not be drained dry, and the field soil must not be directly exposed to air or sun! Because as soon as weed seeds that fall into the soil come into contact with air and sunlight, they will grow within less than three days. If you keep a water level of at least 1 cm, weed seeds cannot fall into the soil and have no chance to grow! If the preventive work is done well, it saves effort later!
Golden apple snails are actually beneficial insects?
At this point, the group members noticed traces of golden apple snail eggs everywhere in the field. Sister Ah-Hua said, leave them, don't be afraid of them! The group members asked puzzledly, aren't golden apple snails pests? Sister Ah-Hua said with a smile, nothing is absolutely good or bad, it depends on the time and place. For the rice that has grown to this size now, the golden apple snail is actually a beneficial insect!
Huh? I've never heard of golden apple snails being beneficial insects!
Sister Ah-Hua then explained, golden apple snails are quite clever, they also pick tender leaves to eat, and the rice now is already too old for them, so they will go looking for newly grown weeds to eat, so leaving them will actually help me weed! Even if the golden apple snails do eat some rice, with the rice at its current size, in such a large field, the snails can only eat a limited amount - they need to survive too, so let them be!
Oh! It seems that Sister Ah-Hua, with only three years of farming experience, has inherited the wisdom of the old farmer Uncle Oji-san!
Related photos - Sister Ah-Hua's weed management - the tricks taught by the old farmer
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