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Can you grow rice in zone 8 (pacific northwest)?

Brandon Karhu

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posted 7 years ago

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I live in the pacific northwest, zone 8. Is there a variety of rice that can grow in this climate?

Dennis Lanigan

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Location: Hendersonville, NC

posted 7 years ago

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You may want to look at this post https://permies.com/t/20951/homestead/Rice-seed-sources-wild-rice.

I got the rice seed mentioned and I'm going to try it in zone 8. I'm just going to grow in buckets/kiddie pool this year though.

Jordan Lowery

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Location: zone 7

posted 7 years ago

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I grow rice in a warm zone 7/cold zone 8. Flood irrigated with duck water every now and then no pernanent flooding. This year I'll be doing more with a few varieties.

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Julie Alberlan

Posts: 10

posted 7 years ago

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Fedco seeds has a variety of rice that grows in Russia (and Maine) and does not need flooding. Here is the link:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/search.php?listname=Rice&item=4312&index=0

Julie

Dennis Lanigan

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Posts: 189

Location: Hendersonville, NC

posted 7 years ago

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Thanks so much for that information Julie! I probably late to put rice in but I'm going to try it anyway!

Dennis Lanigan

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Posts: 189

Location: Hendersonville, NC

posted 7 years ago

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I just got my rice from FEDCO. But now I don't know what to do with it. I read this http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Winter20102011/Rice/tabid/1798/Default.aspx
But I have no idea how to make plugs. I'm already behind so I'll probably just start it in a seed tray, like the woman above. Any other suggestions from experienced dry rice farmers?

Adam Klaus

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Posts: 946

Location: 6200' westen slope of colorado, zone 6

posted 7 years ago

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Glad for the talk about the Duborskian Rice, finally motivated me to plant mine yesterday. little late, but should still harvest by October.

To the OP's question, I think the only issue would be heat units during the growing season. You say Zone 8 and I think hot, sunny weather. But Pac NW is neither. I am zone 6, but have a warm growing season June-Sept.
I would think that if you can grow good corn, then short season dryland rice should work as well. Give it a try, not much to lose.

Plugs are just individual cell trays for starting seedlings, rather than a basic flat. I used a 128 cell plug tray. If you are unfamiliar, check out the seed starting trays at Johnny's Seeds.

Go Rice!

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Joe Moore

Posts: 18

Location: Breckenridge, CO

posted 7 years ago

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@Brandon

You may consider listening to this podcast on "rice permaculture". If they can do it in Vermont, I'm quite sure you could do it in the PNW.

http://agroinnovations.com/podcast/2010/12/06/episode-113-temperate-rice-permaculture/

The guest on that episode has been doing a ton of exciting research on the subject.

In this episode of the podcast we are joined once again by permaculture designer and entrepreneur Ben Falk. Ben joined me to talk about his experiments with growing rice in paddies in the temperate climate of Vermont. Topics of discussion include the rationale for working with rice, rice as a hydroponic nutrient management system, the role of animals in rice production, the advantages of using cheap oil to build rice terraces, the potential for tree crops, and the challenges of processing rice at the homestead scale.

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Laura Sweany

Posts: 317

Location: Onalaska, Lewis County, WA

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posted 6 years ago

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For those looking for a human-powered wild rice huller, check out this cool construction: http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2013/10/wild-rice-cascadian-style.html
There's great information in this blog on wildcrafting wild rice, as well as processing it. I don't know how germain this is to traditional rice processing, but I hope it's helpful.

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Dennis Lanigan

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Posts: 189

Location: Hendersonville, NC

posted 6 years ago

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Laura, thanks for that link. It's blowing my mind because I always wondered (having grew up in the Puget Sound area) if Wild Rice would grow there. Cascadian Wild Rice! I can't believe it. Now that I live in Wild Rice country (Minnesota) this small scale huller will prove really helpful.

I don't see why it also wouldn't work for oats, rice, barley.

Being a nutrition nerd, I can't help but also say phytic acid is a real concern when it comes to grains. Be sure to process all grains in a way that neutralizes the acid (soaking in acid, fermenting, etc.) before consuming in large quantities. Wild rice still contains phytic acid.

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid

Scott McBride

Posts: 20

Location: Foothills of Cascade Mountains, Snohomish County, WA

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posted 3 years ago

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Greetings again ~ I am wondering if growing rice in Cascadia Zone 8 is possible and practical. I saw a presentation by Dave Boehnlein in which I learned that in modern japan, many families are growing enough rice for a whole year. Is anybody here growing rice? Is it worth the effort? What rice varieties work well here? What sources sell rice seed?

Thank you!

Devin Lavign

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Posts: 1047

Location: Pac Northwest, east of the Cascades

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posted 3 years ago

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I would imagine it could be possible considering Ben Falk is growing rice in Vermont, and many others have started producing rice in Vermont and other Northeast states.

So the PNW could possibly be a good producer of rice as well. They grow wild rice in the Willamette valley of OR.

I think Matt Walker, has tried growing rice out on the Olympic Peninsula if I remember correctly but can't remember the results or if it was indeed him. And I can't locate the thread where I read it.

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Jocelyn Campbell

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Location: Carnation, WA (Western Washington State / Cascadia / Pacific NW)

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posted 3 years ago

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Hi Scott,

I did a quick search and found a bunch of threads on the topic:
(~~can you grow rice in zone 8?~~ - edited with strikethrough after Scott's new thread was merged with this one.)
Has anyone ever grown rice?
growing rice at home
Is anyone growing rice?

The conversations are every so slightly different, otherwise I might merge some of these threads.

~~Would you like the this one and the other on growing rice in zone 8 combined?~~ I decided to merge the two Pacific NW zone 8 growing rice threads to streamline things a bit.

Good luck!!

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Scott McBride

Posts: 20

Location: Foothills of Cascade Mountains, Snohomish County, WA

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posted 3 years ago

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Hi Jocylen ~ Thanks for the links. They have good information in them. I don't know whether combining posts or inter-linking the posts would be more useful.

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