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Rice in a Riparium

hydrophyte

Member
Joined
22 Aug 2009
Messages
1,038
Rice in a Riparium

I'm trying out a new kind of riparium plant! Last year I saw an interesting setup description here on UKAPS by somebody in Japan who grew paddy rice (Oryza sativa) in a fish tank on his balcony outside. Here is the link...

Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Final) Harvest | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society

He grew the rice up and actually harvested a small bowl of edible grains! The rice plants were pretty attractive in the setup and I thought that rice could be a good riparium plant as tall background foliage. It has a very attractive formal, upright growth habit.

I looked around some more and found a decorative O. sativa variety, 'Black Madras'. I was also able to source seeds for this selection...

Oryza-sativa-Black-Madras-I-m.jpg


'Black Madras' develops purple-green foliage as the plant matures. It is apparently more sturdy than most regular grain paddy rice and the plants can stand up straight without the support of water or neighboring plants.

I planted the seeds in a riparium planter and they sprouted in just a few days. Here is a shot of the planter where I planted five 'Black Madras' rice seeds...

Oryza-sativa-Black-Madras-12-III-13-I-m3.jpg


Rice grains are large, so the little plants started out with lots of energy. I saw these beginning to sprout onlyl about a week ago, but already they are about 15cm tall. I really like the sap green color of the blades and you can also see the beginning of the purple coloration on the leaf tips.

I'll post more updates as I grow these little rice plants. I just have this planter in a growout setup right now, but I am thinking about a dedicated display tank to feature rice and a few other things.
 
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