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Carnifex t1_j5z8mr4 wrote

To protect against uneven rain Fall very much sounds like watering the plants..

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FlebianGrubbleBite t1_j5zglxr wrote

I think they're trying to communicate that Rice Plants don't need to be submerged in water to grow but they did not do so in the most effective way.

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Seraph062 t1_j60iepc wrote

Rice flooding is generally done in areas with a lot of water. So "uneven rain fall" is often "too much" water.

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Zazenp t1_j60se36 wrote

If being submerged under water isn’t considered “too much water”, then what is?

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ZhouDa t1_j60t9te wrote

They submerge the plants in Brawndo.

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Zazenp t1_j60thy8 wrote

Ah, because of the electrolytes…

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vinsanity406 t1_j612m48 wrote

Rice fields have drains of sort to maintain water levels. The one I saw had levees between them, so each field was just a couple of acres. At one end of the field there's a hole cut in to the ground that reaches the 'ground' level of the rice field. Then they installed some railing that you could slide 2x6 boards that would retain (most of) the water.

So with that system, if you got too much rain, it spills over the top board in to drainage areas. The water would never be able to fill past the top board, which was lower than the surrounding ground. Or you could remove boards and completely drain it.

You don't want seedlings fully submerged by spring rain or they won't get oxygen.

Granted this was for a duck blind in a rice field so other systems may well be different.

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KmartQuality t1_j628a01 wrote

Oh, so that's why they grow rice in California.

Makes sense

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TheProfessionalEjit t1_j605gqc wrote

I listened to an amazing podcast on BBC Sounds about rice farmers who were farming rice, fish and ducks. Absolutely fascinating but I'm buggered if I can find a link to it.

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ZhouDa t1_j60ti8h wrote

And when you drain the ponds you can wrap the fish in rice and let it marinate.

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Muscled_Manatee t1_j61f32s wrote

And then shove them in the ducks. Call ‘em Fucks.

Edit to correct autocorrect crap

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Blueshirt38 t1_j5zhv4v wrote

>isn't to water the plants...

but

>to protect against uneven rainfall

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Seraph062 t1_j60i4cd wrote

"Uneven rainfall" in these areas often means too much water. The protection can be things like using controlled flooding of the fields instead of letting them flood in an uncontrolled way, or by using the fields as a storage area to dump 'excess' water into as protection for other areas.

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maybethingsnotsobad t1_j60cb4p wrote

I've learned way more than I ever wanted to know about growing rice by playing Sakuna. I trust the game is 100% accurate. If so, the field gets flooded at certain times to specific heights and drained at a specific time as well, and it helps control weeds, pests, and diseases, as well as watering. Also, fertilize with your poop and rotting foods for compost.

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Charon2393 t1_j617mld wrote

That game had a awesome rice field gameplay sometimes I forget that it was also a platformer game.

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pagit t1_j6190n9 wrote

Also in SE Asia they have tilapia in the rice paddies and harvest the fish by draining the paddies.

Wife and I visited her grandma's farm when they were draining the paddies and harvesting the tilapia and I helped out. It was pretty cool.

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V6Ga t1_j61bljg wrote

It also allows direct deposit of human waste as fertilizer!

Japan famously used untreated human waste for for the majority of its fertilizer until the 1950s, and still uses it in some areas.

Edit: Bring on the downvotes for stating facts!

Some people don't know much about Japan, I guess, including many young Japanese from the big cities who simply have no idea what life in agricultural areas in Japan is like. Trying to convince Japanese kids from Tokyo that paying the monthly 汲み取り bill is still a fact of life in parts of Japan is kind of funny. As is finding out that the pumper trucks just take it out to rice fields and dump it on. Yes, virginia there is a honeydipper.

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KmartQuality t1_j628f48 wrote

Everything is fertilizer in an agricultural flood zone

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smegmaroni t1_j6167xt wrote

It also creates a convenient place to take a shit

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idonthavethumbs t1_j62upg4 wrote

From the article: "The water regimes in flooded rice fields are diverse, but can be narrowed to four types: (i) permanent flooding, (ii) shortened flooding, (iii) intermittent flooding, and (iv) periodic moistening. "

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