WHEN DO FARMERS GROW THEIR PLANTS?

Plants, as we all know, have their own set of requirements for growth and productivity. They seem to have a “built-in clocks” that tell when they will produce flowers or when the seeds will mature. Scientist or horticulturists that study how plants grow call this the plants’ “growing season.” There are many environmental factors that can affect the plants’ growing season, and these include climate and elevation, temperature, daylight hours, and rainfall.

Rice Fields

Plants are rather picky as to where they grow. For instance, upland rice varieties like to be planted in sloping mountainside soils. Rains from thunderstorms during rice’s growing period in summer are good; so are the cool mountain breeze and the warm sunshine. During the flowering stage, however, a little less rain will help keep the rice in their panicle. This period where the spikelet has come out and the florets open in order for fertilization to occur takes about seven days. Since thunderstorms most often develop late in the afternoon, the farmers can still breathe a sigh of relief. You see, the florets open in the morning and hopefully, they will have been pollinated before the rains will pour down.

When the rice starts to mature, farmers pray for less and less rain, most especially when the grains and leaves start to appear golden brown. One thing that the farmers need to know is the maturation period of the crop. Yellow corn, for instance, takes around 114 to 120 days or equivalent to 4 months from planting to harvesting time. Rice, depending on the variety, will require 90 to 105 days from transplanting. Experienced farmers will then count backward and time their planting with the type of climate and rainfall pattern in the area.

Rainfall is thus one weather phenomenon that farmers watch out for. Mind you, the modern and “techie” farmer follows weather updates on local thunderstorms. As you may know, local thunderstorms could bring flooding to the fields. Flooding is not good for field preparation for corn or cassava because it may wash the seeds or fertilizers away, but for rice, it would be okay only if it’s not a great flood.

Between planting and harvesting, a farmer needs to apply fertilizer or spray pesticides. Farmers know not to apply fertilizers on rainless days. The nitrogen content of the fertilizer will just evaporate and the fertilizer would be rendered useless.

Farmers also keep track of the El Nino. This weather phenomenon creates problems like drought or high temperatures. Again, without water, crops do not yield a good harvest. Crop scientists have gathered data, which showed that the higher nighttime temperatures are not good for rice and corn production. This is true even for irrigated areas, where the rice yield falls by almost 15% when the temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius.

There is also another reason why farmers have to time their practices with the seasons- and this has something to do with pests. Plant pests have also evolved with their host plant. Take, for instance, the corn borer, which seriously damages both rice and corn crops. The life cycle of the corn borer takes 22-45 days in low-lying areas. Adults can fly long distances and lay eggs on the leaves. The eggs develop into larva in 3-5 days. It is the larva stage of the insects that is generally most destructive. They could eat crops several times their weight. In the case of corn borers, they target the stems where they suck plant sap. Many of these insect pests time their development with the rains. In fact, most of them are at their worst during the rainy season. What farmers do to keep from using chemical pesticides is to plow the cornfields after harvest, burning or removing old corn stalks from the area. The field is then left o fallow for two months. Any eggs or larva from the leaves that hide in the soil or grasses will surely die because there is now no food crop for them to feed on.

The short-horned grasshoppers that attack and eat leaves of rice plants are common in moist and swampy areas. They are abundant during September and October here in the Philippines. Planting should, therefore, be timed such that the vegetative stage of rice would not fall during these months. If they do, the farmer has no choice but to combat these pests via chemical or pesticides. Mind you, grasshoppers are destructive at any stage of the rice plants’ development.

Here in the tropic region, we are mostly concerned with matching the rhythm of rain with the planting of staple crops. For vegetables and fruits grown here in highlands, the season to avoid will be the months of December to February where very cold temperatures and frost ruin crops. The farmers have developed techniques to counter this, like making use of greenhouses. Others have learned to accept that sometimes, you just have to lose to nature. However, in temperate countries where wheat and sorghum are grown, it is said that farmers have no choice but to make the short growing season and limited time for field preparation. And so, what they do to sow the seeds before winter sets in. Then when the ice thaws and the temperatures are just right, the seeds will sprout and in a few months, they will be able to harvest their crops.