Rice is nice, but can I grow it?

Sometimes I like to try to grow a plant simply to say I have grown it.  Take for example rice.  Rice is a staple grain grown throughout the world - Florida included.  You can grow rice in your backyard just as novelty or as an annual ornamental grass. 

Most rice varieties are grown in water.   These “wet rice” varieties are adapted to grow in fields of standing water called paddies, but can be grown in normal backyard soils as long as plenty of water is supplied.  Another type called “upland rice” can be grown in normal garden soil conditions.  Rice needs to be grown in a full sun area and will require a minimum of three months to go from seed to harvestable rice.  I have grown a variety called ‘Blue Bonnet’, an upland rice, and ‘Carolina Gold’, a wet type.  ‘Blue Bonnet’ grew vigorously and produced large plants with significant seed heads.  I really did not have enough moisture to grow ‘Carolina Gold’ as a paddy rice, but it still grew and produced under the drier conditions I was able to provide.  Once the seed heads are full and golden in color, they can be cut and bundled by hand for drying.  This in itself makes a nice fall dried grass arrangement for a vase.  Actually threshing and gathering the resulting rice grains is difficult at best.  A final meal of rice was more than I could accomplish. This was purely experimental and just for the fun of it. 

Perhaps curious gardeners or children might try growing rice small-scale in a simple eight-inch pot.  Using normal sterile potting medium available at any garden center, plant several rice seeds per pot, water it in and place the pot(s) in some type of pan that can be filled with two to three inches of water. Maintain the pan water of at least one to one and one-half inches on through the growing season.  Thin the plants so that you have three good rice plants per pot.   Place your rice-growing unit on a sunny lanai or other such screened-in site to keep mosquitoes out of the water-filled pan.  Hopefully, by the end of summer you will have something to show your friends and neighbors, and can brag about your rice-growing skills.

Probably your biggest question is where can I get rice seed?  The ready-to-cook rice found in grocery stores will not work.  However, a quick Internet search will produce a surprising number of sources with several varieties to choose from.  While it may seem to be an ambitious task to grow your own rice, it will amaze and educate you at the same time.  For more information on all types of gardening questions, please call our Master Gardener volunteers on the Plant Lifeline on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 4 pm at 764-4340 for gardening help and insight into their role as an Extension volunteer.  Don't forget to visit our other County Plant Clinics in the area.  Please check this link for a complete list of site locations, dates and times - http://charlotte.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulture/Plant%20Clinics%20Schedule.pdf.

Resource:

Eames-Sheavly, M. (1996) Rice- Grain of the Ancients.  Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University.