Saturday, August 18, 2012

Growing Happy Hill Rice

I had got some seeds of happy hill rice which Fukuoka San had developed in his field.  
Fukuoka had invented and registered three varieties of rice. 

Fukuoka 1 gou(Fukuoka No.1)-fast growing,

Fukuoka 2 gou(No.2)-late growing,
Fukuoka mochi 3 gou(glutinous No.3).

There are not much information available on this, but it is said to have wild strains in it. In this interview 'My natural way of farming is the sensible one'' by Vithal C Nadkarni 
(https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.indian/G_xO_gPRBBc) Fukuoka says "It's called "Happy Hill" after my surname. The mother stock of this noble rice came from Assam and the father stock from Japan. It took me eight years to get this rice to yield. It's the world's most productive strain of rice, providing on an average more than 200 grains per pod, which is twice that of normal yields in Japan".

24-December-2020
Some information about happy hill rice from a Japanese website which sells these seeds

https://noguchiseed.com/hanbai/products/detail/158 

Happy Hill (Uruchi)

Immediately after the end of the war, Masanobu Fukuoka fixed it in 1986 by crossing a long culm multi-grain mochi variety brought back from the hinterland of Burma by a Japanese Hoju type variety.

Super high-yielding rice cultivated by the late Masanobu Fukuoka, a charismatic natural farmer. The grass is upright and resembles foxtail millet. Delicious for a high harvest. However, since it is late-maturing, it is not suitable for cold regions such as Hokkaido and Tohoku where winter is early. Suitable for west of Kanto. It is said to be suitable not only for paddy fields but also for land fields. * Note: This variety is prone to rice scab, so it is not suitable for commercial cultivation for shipping. Please note that.

Rice rice. For this species, Isao Noguchi, who was invited to Ehime at the Centennial of Masanobu Fukuoka's birth, proliferated the seed paddy received from his bereaved family by the Noguchi seedling staff. The name of Happy Hill is a literal translation of "Fukuoka".

Strong culm and strong against lodging. It has strong drought resistance, and some are close to upland rice. Strong against weeds. It is suitable for no-tillage, fertilizer-free, and pesticide-free natural cultivation because it exhibits its characteristics in fields with poor conditions. When cultivated with high fertilizer, the yield is extremely high and it is possible to reach 10a1t or more. (300-400 seeds per ear grow, and 200-250 seeds grow on average. (Keep the number of stems per square meter at 200-300). Since many late-maturing species grow into large stocks, 40-45 cm between rows and stocks. It is best to plant one or two plants at the same position. It can be cultivated at intervals of 30 cm, even with 3 to 4 plants.

Seed life at room temperature, it is as short as one year. It can be stored in a cool and dark place for several years.

Dormancy is absent. (Therefore, it may germinate in the rain during fruiting)


Some seeds were sent by one Japanese friend who had been cultivating this for some time. He had told that the seeds are weak, because of bad weather. 

I was in a dilemma initially how to go about cultivating this precious seeds. So shared it with other three friends who were interested in Fukuoka natural farming. Initially I was thinking to put it in some flower pots, so that I can take care of it more. But during my absence, we were sure our dog will take care of it, so dropped that plan. I made some small fencing in the front yard using glyericedia sticks and then put the seeds after making a small raised bed and also put some dried cow dung. Since the seed quantity was less, and since the Japanese friend had told that the seeds were weak, I wanted to give some boosting to the seeds. The germination was poor, and plants looked weak at the beginning. Grass started coming, but being in the front yard, I could pull out and mulch with them as and when required. I also put some fresh cow dung slurry couple of times and at a later point, put horse gram also. But horse gram was growing thick, so finally had to pull out and mulch  with them. 


Even though initially it was weak, it was better at the later stages. Couple of saplings didn't survive. But to my surprise it started flowering on 52nd day (less than 2 months). Also there were no tillers seen, so this looks to be the fast growing variety and this matches with the description which my Japanese friend had given, it reaches a height of 20 inches.

Here are some photos...Actually I had created a raised bed, may be for rice, it may be better to have bunds on 4 sides and keep it little low and allow some water to be there. In Natural Farming book, Fukuoka san explains that during heading stage, there should be more water for rice. I will be continuing with my experiments, in the next season with the improvements. But I am still looking for the variety Fukuoka 2 gou which grows tall and also has more grains on it. Now there is a threat of birds, rats, but I hope my dog Bruno will take care of chasing them away !!!.














Harvest


12 comments:

Raghava said...

After seeing ur photos, i observed a tri foliate (three leafed) plant growing under rice in the 2nd and 3rd photos from below, what is that ? have you identified it ?

Raghava,
Davangere, Karnataka.

Nandakumar said...

Raghava, Thanks for the comments. I had put some horse gram just to see how it grows with rice. At some point it gets on to the rice for support, that is a disadvantage

Regards,
Nandan

Unknown said...

How can I get some seeds for this?

Nandakumar said...

I can send you around 10 seeds, if this is OK, please send your address


Regards,
Nandan

MyLife said...

Very interesting. I enjoyed your blog. Where can I get some seeds to try growing it at home?

Nandakumar said...

Hopefully I can give you some seeds after next season. Last year, what ever I had grown was completely eaten by peacock. I will try it on this May/June and will have some seeds to spare at the end of the season.

Regards,
Nandan

Clair said...

I know this is from many years aho, but do you still have happy hill rice seeds? Their kind if a pink colir when cooked correct? Where in the world were you trying to grow them?

Clair said...

I know this is from many years aho, but do you still have happy hill rice seeds? Their kind if a pink colir when cooked correct? Where in the world were you trying to grow them?

Nandakumar said...

Hi Clair,

Nice to hear from you..The seeds from this experiment was lost since they stopped germinating when I kept it for an year or so without cultivating. I could find some more seeds from a friend from Japan and is growing some plants and have distributed it to at least 5-6 people, so at least some one in my contact will be having it.

I haven't cooked this rice. But to great to hear that you have cooked happy hill rice. Would like to know more about that experience.

I am from Palakkad,Kerala,India. Here is some detail of the on-going happy hill experiment

http://farming-experiments.blogspot.in/2015/09/another-trial-with-happy-hill-rice-2015.html


Regards,
Nandan

Unknown said...

Interesting Nandan.
Hi,
Can some seeds be available for me to try it in the rice belt of Odisha.
Regards
Rajesh Toshniwal

Unknown said...

Interesting Nandan.
Hi,
Can some seeds be available for me to try it in the rice belt of Odisha.
Regards
Rajesh Toshniwal

Nandakumar said...

Sure, Rajesh, can send you around 10-15 seeds, please send your address to my email - p_k_nandanan@yahoo.com


Regards,
Nandan