Since the spring rice planting, the weather has always maintained low temperatures, cloudy skies, and little sunshine, causing the spring rice crops to grow slowly.
Low temperature, lack of sunlight
In the drizzly, gloomy weather, but in the rice fields of Ninh Thang commune, Hoa Lu district, almost every field has farmers diligently fertilizing. While quickly pruning and picking up golden apple snails on 2 sao of rice, Ms. Vu Thi Hien said: "I sowed this area since the 4th day of Tet, it's been more than a month now but it's still sparse like this. Not to mention a few days ago, taking advantage of the cooperative pumping water, the family spread nitrogen, the rice plants have just recovered like this, but the other day it was cold, with frost, the rice leaves were red. These days, taking advantage of the warmer weather, despite the heavy drizzle, I still have to go to the field to prune and patch up the damaged areas of the plants due to mice and golden apple snails"...
Similarly, at Cung field, Ninh My commune, many farmers are also worried about the slow growth of rice, so they go to the fields early in the morning and afternoon to regulate water, take care of them, fertilize them... hoping that the rice plants will soon grow healthily.
Ms. Truong Thi Hoa (Phong Hoa hamlet) said: My family planted more than 1 acre of this rice field late, right in the cloudy weather period so the rice plants grew slowly. Today, I had to bring out nitrogen fertilizer to fertilize. Hopefully, the weather will be warmer and my family's rice fields will regain their growth momentum, develop well, and produce high yields. More than 39 thousand hectares of spring rice in Ninh Binh were planted by farmers from February 4 to February 25. However, since planting until now, the weather has continuously maintained low temperatures.
According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, in the past 10-15 years in the North, there have been few widespread cold spells lasting from February to March with temperatures below 15 degrees in the plains and below 13 degrees in the mountains like the recent one. In recent days, although the weather has warmed up, it is still cloudy and lacks sunlight. These factors have significantly affected the growth rate of rice in particular and many other vegetable crops.
Increase fertilization
According to the provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, basically all spring rice areas in the province were sown and planted before February 25, ensuring the best crop schedule. However, after sowing and planting, due to unfavorable weather, low temperatures, and few sunny days, the rice fields grew and developed more slowly than in previous years. Currently, early spring rice is in the final stage of tillering to standing and forming panicles, while late spring rice is in the stage of tillering to full tillering.
Recommending some impact techniques and cultivation measures in the face of slow rice growth, engineer Nguyen Thi Nhung, Head of Plant Protection Department, Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of the province said: First, farmers must maintain an appropriate amount of water for rice to grow, especially in areas of broadcast rice; for young rice, the water level should be about 2-3 cm. Second, timely top dressing is required. In many places, farmers still have the habit of planting without fertilizing, so young rice plants after planting lack nutrients and are susceptible to dying in unfavorable weather conditions, especially direct-sown rice. Therefore, in late spring, if farmers have not applied the first top dressing, they must urgently fertilize immediately. However, one thing to note is to ensure a balanced ratio and dosage between types of fertilizer; do not apply too much nitrogen fertilizer because the weather is cloudy at this stage. If too much nitrogen is applied, the rice will be susceptible to pests and diseases. For early spring tea, this is the right time for farmers to apply the second top dressing to welcome the panicles and apply all the remaining potassium fertilizer.
In addition, in recent days, the cloudy weather, heavy fog, and drizzle in the morning and evening are opportunities for leaf blast disease in rice to develop. Therefore, farmers must regularly visit the fields to detect early when the disease appears. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the lush green fields, and to plant rice varieties susceptible to rice blast disease such as TBR 225, Thai Xuyen 111, Bac Thom, Thieu Uu 8, Dai Thom...
Along with that, regularly maintain the catching of rats, golden apple snails as well as weeding combined with mud stirring, detecting and removing weedy rice. The best prevention measure at this time is to use trapping and manual catching methods, limit the use of chemical pesticides, and not affect the development of the weak rice plants. For rats, it is necessary to organize a campaign for the whole population to go to the fields to dig and catch rats to protect crops and the environment. For golden apple snails, manually catching and using them as food is very good for raising chickens, ducks, pigs, etc.
During this period, rice grows slowly, but it is not certain that it will affect future productivity and output. However, it is certain that it will prolong the growth period of rice plants, affecting the crop calendar. Therefore, localities need to proactively calculate and arrange the planting schedule, variety structure and appropriate technical solutions for the next crop.
Article and photos: Nguyen Luu
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