Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anyone know how I would go about growing rice in an AP system? We have a 20m x 1m (200mm deep) drain into which our strawberry towers drain. I have filled this drain with gravel, hoping that this would provide extra bio-filtration. I've planted watercress in this very moist environment and it seems to be thriving, so I got thinking, "what else could grow in water?" Rice? But how?

get some seed rice and plant it? it's a grain it should sprout fairly readily I would think?

I want to try this, but I'm still trying to source some seed

My suggestion would be CSIRO..they have been playing with rice for decades....or Sunrice...there was a doco about Sunrice not long back, being the largest producer of rice in the world, and because of the drought, the main factoy had closed down ( hopefully only temporarily )

There are a few different kinds of rice, some requiring different levels of flooding over their growth period. I sprouted standard old brown rice bought from the supermarket, but never planted it, the fact that it sprouted is a good sign, and it's pretty cheap. I've been trying to get the black "wild rice" to sprout but with very limited success.

I don't know much about standard rice, but I understand wild rice is an unrelated grass that requires a certain amount of chilling before it will sprout. Probably keeping it damp or wet and in the refrigerator for a few months would do the trick. One would also need to get seed intended for planting as seed intended for the table is typically roasted/toasted to develop flavor.

How did you do it?

A damp cloth like a T-towl with rice sprinkled over it then another cloth on the top which I kept damp. Also worked with just water in a jar, like sprouting seeds for eating.

Interesting. I have found a few grains with the nasty hull still attached. These I tried and was able to sprout, but I thought milling would have damaged the others too much to sprout.

This is where I want to plant the rice. The watercress seems to like it

That's a pretty cool variation on the Strawberry tower Synapto... I like.
I assume from watercress, and perhaps rice liking it, that unlike the strawb tower it's not dry at all?

The drain is continually damp and as it gets closer to the sump it gets deeper. At the top the drain is about 150mm deep and closer to the sump 400mm so I have plenty of variations. Attached a shot closer to the sump (which you can just see top right). The water falls out of the bottom of the strawberry tower quite a distance straight into water, whereas near the top (ie, shallower portion) where the watercress is growing it is filled with gravel to provide extra bio-filtration

I'm not an expert in rice production but i know the flood/rice paddy method of production is mainly for weed control and nutrient supply. Those rice paddies are also regularly drained to provide good growing conditions. A lot of plants will tolerate inundation for a period, bot many thrive in it. I suspect rice would be in the latter category if you were looking to maximise yield.

As for wild rice, i'm pretty sure it is still the same plant it's just that it hasn't had the massive selection pressure applied to it that our domesticated varieties have had. Give it a crack and let us know how it goes.



There might be a couple of billion Chinese who'd disagree with that comment

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