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