Is anyone growing rice?

I bought some Carolina Gold rice seed this year. Not sure what I should do with it. I live only 1-2 hours to the north of where it grows naturally.
I have a few options but I've never grown rice. I have an old,sludgy koi pond that needs some repair because our big pond is leaking into one side. It hasn't had a fountain,filter or any type of maintenance in about 20 or more years. I'm leaning towards using this and perhaps raising the one end,which I've been meaning to do anyway. I could add a fountain to reduce mosquitoes and/or some type of mosquito eating small fish. It would need to be a native fish since I don't want anything possibly invasive to escape into the pond,although once I get that end repaired that should be a problem,it could still flood into the pond if we get another hurricane.
I have considered adding crawfish as well as a form of edible aquaponics.
I have a big pond but no way to drain and flood it. It does have one end that gets pretty shallow most of the summer,maybe 2 feet deep.
I could also use a kiddy pond if that would be better.
Should I start it in small pots,perhaps in the greenhouse? What temperature should it go out or be planted? I was thinking along with the sweet potatoes?
Should I broadcast or maybe seedball it?

Tracy West wrote:I bought some Carolina Gold rice seed this year. Not sure what I should do with it. I live only 1-2 hours to the north of where it grows naturally.
I have a few options but I've never grown rice. I have an old,sludgy koi pond that needs some repair because our big pond is leaking into one side. It hasn't had a fountain,filter or any type of maintenance in about 20 or more years. I'm leaning towards using this and perhaps raising the one end,which I've been meaning to do anyway. I could add a fountain to reduce mosquitoes and/or some type of mosquito eating small fish. It would need to be a native fish since I don't want anything possibly invasive to escape into the pond,although once I get that end repaired that should be a problem,it could still flood into the pond if we get another hurricane.
I have considered adding crawfish as well as a form of edible aquaponics.
I have a big pond but no way to drain and flood it. It does have one end that gets pretty shallow most of the summer,maybe 2 feet deep.
I could also use a kiddy pond if that would be better.
Should I start it in small pots,perhaps in the greenhouse? What temperature should it go out or be planted? I was thinking along with the sweet potatoes?
Should I broadcast or maybe seedball it?

I don't know what Carolina Gold is, but all of the varieties I grow here in Thailand like it wet and hot. If the soil is sticky or tacky wet and you just toss seeds on it they pop up fast and you can just leave them there as the water rises. No need to transplant them unless you want them in certain spacing or arrangement. But if you want you can germinate them outside in one small area and then transplant them when they are about 20 days old..at least in this climate. Cheers.

hau Tracy, Rice growing is pretty easy really.

Most rice grown in the USA is dry sprouted, that is it is sown just as if it were any other grain then watered and once the plants are up about 6 to 8 inches tall the field is flooded to a depth of 3 inches. As the plants grow taller the water depth is increased until it is about 8 inches deep and that is held until the rice has headed out fully. At that point of fully developed rice seeds the fields are drained and the rice dries out naturally. Then the harvesters go through.

In Asia they tend to sprout the seeds, let them grow to around 8 to 12 inches tall then hand plant each plant into a paddy that is already flooded.

Either method will work. Using a pond, the water might be to deep for best development.

I would recommend the kiddie pool, since that will allow you to have the water at the correct depth for good plant development.

Redhawk