Year One Guide to Naturally Grown Rice Farming

Naturally Grown Rice Farming

Year One Guide

A roadmap to help complete beginners reach harvest in their very first year, without pesticides, chemical fertilizer, or herbicides

Yes, you really can harvest rice in year one

People say "growing rice without pesticides or fertilizer is hard." But in practice, most failures come down not to a lack of knowledge but to poor timing and preparation. If you know ahead of time when to do what and why, and you don't miss that first critical window for weeding, you can reach harvest even in your very first year.

This site is built so that once you set your planting date, a work calendar tailored to your own paddy is generated on the spot, and you can check the method and pitfalls of each task one by one.

1
Start smallIn year one, stay between 1 se (about 100 m²) and 1 tan (10 ares, roughly a quarter acre) at most. Going through the full cycle on a small paddy is the best textbook there is.
2
Level the paddy, keep the water deepCareful leveling during puddling combined with deep-water management (5-7cm) suppresses most weeds before they even sprout.
3
Weed before you can see the weedsOnce weeds are visible, it's already too late. Chain-weeding starting 3 days after transplanting stops them while the sprouts are still invisible.
4
Record your heading dateThe harvest window falls 40-45 days after heading. This single record is what keeps you from missing the harvest.
5
Don't do it aloneFor questions about water rights and paddy banks, the best teachers are the experienced farmers in your area. Find someone to ask before you get stuck.

Getting Ready ― What to Line Up Before You Start

Finding a paddy

Your main entry points are the local municipal agricultural committee/farmland bank, the JA (agricultural co-op), and word of mouth in the area. As a beginner, the thing to check first is water: can you freely bring water in and drain it out from the irrigation channel, does the field get good sun, and how much herbicide or fertilizer did the previous farmer use (soil vitality can be unstable for the first year or two after switching to natural cultivation)? How easy the field is to get to also matters — during the June weeding season you'll be visiting 2-3 times a week.

Deciding on area

For your first year we recommend 1 se (about 100 m²) up to 1 tan (10 ares). A tan of paddy yields roughly 4-6 hyo (240-360 kg) of rice — more than enough for a family to eat in a year. "Going bigger" can wait until year two.

Tools and rough costs to line up

Bare minimum Rubber boots (paddy boots for transplanting), sickle, spade, chain-weeding tool (can be made yourself from pipe and chain, ¥3,000-10,000), rotary weeder / taguruma (used, from ¥5,000; new, ¥20,000-30,000), brush cutter (¥30,000-50,000)
Rent or hire out For the tractor (tilling, puddling), rice transplanter, and combine plus drying, it's realistic to hire a neighboring farmer with the equipment or contract the work out through the JA. Expect roughly ¥20,000-40,000 total per tan.
Seedlings In year one it's a choice between raising your own seedlings from scratch or having a fellow natural-cultivation grower share some with you. If you're not confident, take the seedlings and save salt-water selection and low-density seeding for year two — that's a fine order to learn in.

※ Hand-planting and hand-harvesting (hanging to dry on racks) is possible without machinery at the 1-se scale. It makes for a great experience, but past 1 tan you'll want to borrow machine power.

Rough time commitment for the year (1 tan, with machine work contracted out)

A few days for seeding and tending the nursery, one day for transplanting, June weeding at 1-2 times a week for an hour and a half over about six weeks, bank mowing once a month, checking the water 2-3 times a week for 15 minutes, and one day for harvest. June weeding is the only part where the outcome is really decided — the rest of the work is mostly just "going to look."

Build a Work Calendar for Your Paddy Choose your nearest AMeDAS weather station, your variety, your transplanting date, and your area, and a full schedule from seeding through to harvest is generated automatically, based on that station's actual measured temperatures. You can print the finished schedule or import it into your phone's calendar.

Enter your paddy details (tap to select)

Weather station (linked to climate data) Not set
Choose from a list (by prefecture)
Variety ★ = suited to natural cultivation
Transplanting date
Area

Varieties Suited to Natural Cultivation

In a paddy with no added fertilizer, older lineages that send down roots and fend for themselves on little nutrition outperform modern varieties bred to "respond to fertilizer with high yield." Landrace and open-pollinated varieties let you save your own seed, and the longer you keep saving seed, the more the rice adapts to your particular paddy. The varieties marked with a ★ in the variety picker on the schedule tool are the ones introduced here.

Staple varieties for natural cultivation

Asahi
Late		 A landrace from Okayama. Yields stay stable even without fertilizer, making it the go-to standard for natural cultivation in western Japan. Its flavor is light and refined, a different lineage entirely from the Koshihikari family.
Kamenoo
Mid-season		 A landrace from the Meiji era and an ancestor of both Koshihikari and Sasanishiki. Cold-hardy and well suited to eastern Japan. Also popular as a sake rice, with interest from natural sake breweries.
Isehikari
Late		 A vigorous variety discovered in the sacred rice paddy at Ise Grand Shrine. Thick stalks resist lodging and disease, making it an easy variety to handle even for a first attempt at natural cultivation.
Sasashigure
Mid-season		 The parent variety of Sasanishiki. Grows well on little nutrition, with a light, clean flavor. A variety with strong support among natural-cultivation fans.
Hatsushimo
Late		 A large-grain variety from Gifu. Vigorous growth and strong resistance to lodging make it a reassuring late variety. Tastes good even cold, and suits onigiri and sushi.
Norin 22 / Norin 48 Lineages bred before chemical fertilizer became widespread, with a strong aptitude for low-nutrient conditions. Ancestors of many modern varieties, sometimes called the "hidden gems of natural cultivation."
Happy Hill
Mid-season		 Bred by Masanobu Fukuoka, the founder of natural farming. Vigorous with large panicles, capable of high yield even without fertilizer.
Sasanishiki
Mid-season		 The classic light-flavored rice. It tends to lodge when fed fertilizer, but actually grows healthier without any. Pairs beautifully with Japanese cuisine and sushi.
Black rice / red rice (ancient rice)
Late		 The hardiest rice of all, retaining the toughness of wild rice. Grows well even in poor soil, and its high retail value as a colorful specialty rice makes it a good side crop on a small plot.

Tips for choosing

If you're unsure, decide based on "a variety with a track record in your area" × "can you actually get seed or seedlings." In western Japan, Asahi, Isehikari, and Hinohikari are good starting points; in eastern Japan, look at Kamenoo, Sasashigure, and Hitomebore. Koshihikari also has a solid track record in natural cultivation, since it resists lodging much better without fertilizer. The surest way to get seed or seedlings is from a nearby natural-cultivation grower or a natural-cultivation seed network — that way you get seed already adapted to the local land. And once you harvest, save next year's seed from your best-yielding plants. Saving your own seed is the ultimate form of variety selection in natural cultivation.

Every Step, Explained The "how to do it" and the "natural cultivation point" for every task on the schedule, in order.

1Sieving the SoilWinter to early spring

What is this task?

Passing the soil (nursery medium) you'll use for the seedling trays through a sieve to remove stones, roots, and straw debris, leaving a soft, evenly-grained soil. It's the first job of the year, laying the groundwork for raising your seedlings.

How to do it

Sieve the soil through a mesh of around 5mm, keeping separate portions for the base layer (under the seed) and the covering layer (on top of it). Dry the soil thoroughly before sieving so it doesn't clog and comes out loose and fine. You'll need roughly 4-5 kg total of base and covering soil per seedling tray.

Natural cultivation point Don't use store-bought nursery soil with fertilizer mixed in — use unfertilized soil from your own paddy or a nearby hillside instead. Seedlings raised on the strength of the soil alone develop stronger roots, and you'll see the difference in how well they take after transplanting. Gathering the soil the year before and drying it somewhere out of the rain makes the winter work much easier.
Caution Avoid soil from any spot that may have had herbicide or fertilizer applied. Using soil from a little below the surface, rather than the topsoil where weed seeds concentrate, cuts down on weeds in the seedling trays.

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2Sowing the SeedAbout 30 days before transplanting

What is this task?

Sowing your selected seed into the seedling trays and starting to raise your seedlings. As the saying goes, "half the crop is decided by the seedling" — half of rice farming comes down to the seedlings.

How to do it

First, use salt-water selection to remove light, hollow grains, keeping only the well-filled seed. Then soak the seed for 3-7 days to trigger germination before sowing it into the trays and covering it with soil.

Natural cultivation point Sowing thinly (60-80g of dry seed per tray) is the golden rule. Sowing densely produces long, spindly, weak seedlings, while sowing thinly produces sturdy, thick-stemmed seedlings, one by one. Pool-style nursery management makes water control easier and builds disease resistance too. The longer you keep saving your own seed, the stronger and more adapted to your paddy the rice becomes.
Caution Soak the seed slowly in cold water (aim for an accumulated total of about 100°C when you multiply water temperature by days). A sudden rise in temperature causes uneven germination. Change the water daily.

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3TillingEarly spring, before transplanting

What is this task?

Tilling the paddy with a tractor or similar, working the previous year's rice straw and cut grass into the soil while loosening it up.

How to do it

If you return the rice straw to the soil in autumn or winter, it has plenty of time to break down before transplanting. Finish spring tilling at least two weeks before flooding the paddy, so the gases released as straw decomposes don't damage the seedlings.

Natural cultivation point Don't till too deep. Keep it shallow, around 10-15cm, so you disturb the soil's layered structure — where the microbes and earthworms live — as little as possible. In place of added fertilizer, returning rice straw and grass to the soil is your source of soil vitality.
Caution Flooding the paddy while a lot of undecomposed straw remains causes gas buildup that damages the roots. Judge the timing of tilling by the condition of the straw.

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4Puddling3-7 days before transplanting

What is this task?

Flooding the paddy and stirring the soil into a smooth slurry, then leveling the surface. This improves water retention and makes the seedlings easier to plant.

How to do it

The standard approach is two passes: a rough puddling and a finishing puddling. The rough pass stirs the soil coarsely and lets weeds germinate; the finishing pass works those sprouts back under before you transplant, which knocks out one whole generation of weeds.

Natural cultivation point In growing without herbicide, careful leveling during puddling is the first step of weed control. A level paddy floor means an even water depth, so deep-water management can suppress weeds uniformly. Even a 5cm difference in elevation lets weeds sprout in unison from the high spots. "As careful as you can possibly be" is the watchword here.
Caution Overworking it breaks the soil particles down too fine, causing oxygen shortage and poor root development. Keep it "shallow and level."

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5TransplantingLate May to mid-June (varies by region)

What is this task?

Planting your raised seedlings out into the paddy — the single most important milestone of the year. Every weeding and water-management schedule that follows is measured from this date.

How to do it

Use seedlings grown to the 4-5 leaf stage, planted sparsely at just 2-3 stems per hill, 40-50 hills per tsubo. Plant shallow as a rule — deep planting delays tillering, so avoid it.

Natural cultivation point Sparse planting lets wind and light move between the hills, building resistance to disease and pests. With no fertilizer to rely on, the rice sends its roots out searching for nutrients, growing them thick and strong. Natural-cultivation transplanting is the opposite of "plant densely and feed with fertilizer" — it's "plant sparsely and grow through the roots."
Caution Competition with weeds starts the moment you finish transplanting. Bring the water up deep (5-7cm) right after planting to suppress weed germination.

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6. Weeding ― The Heart of Natural Cultivation In rice farming without herbicide, the golden rule is to eliminate weeds "before you can see them," not to pull them once you can. Disturbing the paddy floor during the weeds' early sprouting stage (thread stage) makes the tiny sprouts float up and die. Switch tools as the season progresses — chain, then taguruma, then mechanical inter-row weeder, then hand-weeding — combined with deep-water management, to keep weeds in check.

6-1Chain-WeedingStarting 2-5 days after transplanting, repeated 2-3 times at 7-day intervals

What is this task?

A weeding method where you sink a chain hung from a rope onto the paddy floor and walk it along, stirring up the topsoil so newly sprouted weeds float free and die.

How to do it

The biggest key is doing it during the "thread stage," while the weeds are still invisible to the eye. Do the first pass 2-5 days after transplanting, then repeat 2-3 times at 7-day intervals. Don't worry about dragging it over the seedlings — once a seedling has taken root, it springs right back up even if knocked over.

Natural cultivation point A single pass takes only about 30 minutes per 10 ares, making it the most efficient early weeding method there is. Combine it with deep-water management and the effect doubles. Make "do it before you can see the weeds" your rule — once you can see them, it's already too late.
Caution Seedlings that haven't yet taken root (the first 1-2 days after transplanting) pull out easily, so decide your start date based on the condition of the paddy.

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6-2Taguruma (Rotary Weeder)About 8-12 days after transplanting

What is this task?

An old-fashioned weeding method: pushing a hand tool fitted with rotating claws along the space between rows of rice, stirring the soil to float the weeds free.

How to do it

Push it straight along the rows. Since you need to pass through every row-gap, going back and forth, budget about 2-3 hours per 10 ares. The trick is pushing at a steady rhythm, letting the wheels roll the soil rather than dragging.

Natural cultivation point The taguruma weeds and, at the same time, works oxygen into the soil — an inter-row cultivation effect that noticeably improves root development. Think of it as work that energizes the rice, not just weeding, and the time spent stops feeling like a chore.
Caution The taguruma can't reach weeds between individual hills in the same row — fill that gap in later with hand-weeding. Keeping your transplanting rows evenly spaced makes this task dramatically easier.

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6-3Mechanical Inter-Row WeedingAbout 13-18 days after transplanting

What is this task?

Using an engine-powered paddy inter-row weeder (walk-behind or ride-on) to stir the soil between rows, clearing remaining weeds while putting oxygen into the soil.

How to do it

This targets weeds that the chain and taguruma passes didn't fully suppress. The weeding claws churn the soil a few centimeters deep, floating the weeds up roots and all. Budget about 1-1.5 hours per 10 ares with a walk-behind machine, or around 30 minutes with a ride-on.

Natural cultivation point Cultivation at this stage gives a real boost of oxygen to the rice right at peak tillering — people say "a weeded paddy changes color." If these three stages (chain → taguruma → inter-row weeding) knock out the bulk of the weeds, hand-weeding alone can carry you through the rest of the summer.
Caution This is the period when the rice roots start spreading into the row-gaps, so cultivating too late will cut them. Aim to finish within 3 weeks of transplanting.

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6-4Hand-WeedingJune-July, as needed

What is this task?

Getting into the paddy and pulling by hand any weeds between hills that the machines and tools missed. It's the most painstaking and the most reliable weeding method in natural rice farming.

How to do it

Pull monochoria, barnyard grass, and arrowhead out by the root, either pushing them deep into the mud or carrying them out of the paddy. Barnyard grass in particular resembles rice, so tell them apart by the base of the leaf — rice has small hairs there, barnyard grass doesn't.

Natural cultivation point "One plant this year is a thousand plants next year." Pulling weeds before they drop seed is by far the best shortcut to an easier weeding season next year. Walking the paddy is itself a chance to observe the rice, noticing changes in growth and signs of insects. Hand-weeding is weeding, but it's also time spent in conversation with your paddy.
Caution Work in the cool of the morning or evening during the height of summer, not in the blazing midday sun. Don't forget heatstroke precautions.

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7Bank MowingSeveral times, May-September

What is this task?

Mowing the grass on the banks that enclose the paddy. It's done several times over the season, both to improve airflow and as a chance to inspect the banks.

How to do it

Mow the inner slope, top, and outer slope of the bank with a brush cutter. Leaving the cut grass on the bank prevents the soil from drying out and crumbling, and it eventually returns to the soil.

Natural cultivation point Mowing "high" — leaving a bit of height rather than shaving it bare — preserves habitat for frogs, spiders, and other creatures that prey on rice pests. The bank isn't a source of pests, it's a source of natural predators. Knowing when not to mow too closely is part of the skill.
Caution Mowing the banks right before or during heading sends any stink bugs living in the grass moving straight onto the rice ears all at once, causing spotted rice. Finish mowing at least 2 weeks before heading, or don't mow at all while heading is underway.

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8Mid-Season DrainageAbout 40-50 days after transplanting

What is this task?

Draining the paddy once and letting the soil dry out lightly — a water-management step that shifts the rice's growth phase, stopping wasteful tillering and pushing the roots to grow deep.

How to do it

Once the target stem count is reached (around 20 stems per hill), drain the paddy and let it dry for 7-10 days, until light cracks appear on the surface. After that, switch to intermittent irrigation (letting water in, then letting it recede naturally, on repeat).

Natural cultivation point In natural cultivation, a "light" mid-season drying is the standard. Drying too aggressively damages the soil life and squanders the soil's hard-won vitality. Because sparsely planted, unfertilized rice rarely over-tillers to begin with, some growers skip mid-season drainage entirely (or leave standing water in part of the paddy) specifically to protect the creatures living there.
Caution Heavy drying once the young panicles have begun forming hits yield directly. Finish mid-season drainage before young panicle formation begins.

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9HeadingAbout 65-82 days after transplanting (varies by variety)

What is this task?

The panicles that developed inside the stem emerge into the open — the single biggest milestone in the rice's life. Each panicle flowers on the morning of the day it emerges, with pollination finishing within about two hours. The day when half the paddy has headed is called the "heading date," and it's the reference point for counting toward the harvest date.

What to do during this period

The two weeks around heading are when the rice needs the most water. Keep it flooded generously — what's called "flowering water" — without letting it run dry. The work here is mostly watching; there's no need to go into the paddy.

Natural cultivation point Record your heading date. Since the harvest window is set by "roughly 1,000°C of accumulated temperature after heading (about 40-45 days)," knowing the heading date lets you predict the harvest date fairly precisely. The sight of grain flowers opening all at once on a paddy in the morning is a scene you only get to see at this one point in the year.
Caution Don't go into the paddy or disturb the water significantly during flowering (the morning hours). Interfering with pollination causes sterile grains that never fill.

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10Water Management After HeadingHeading to 10 days before harvest

What is this task?

Managing water through the ripening period, when nutrients flow into the grain. How you manage this month or so decides how well-filled and flavorful the rice turns out.

How to do it

Keep the water level generous for the first two weeks after heading, then switch to intermittent irrigation. Let water in, wait 2-3 days for it to recede naturally, then let it in again — this cycle delivers water and oxygen to the roots alternately. Do the final drain-down about 10 days before harvest.

Natural cultivation point "Draining too early leaves the rice thin." Keeping the roots active through the second half of ripening is what produces plump, well-filled, flavorful grain. Since unfertilized rice ripens on the strength of its roots, the trick is to delay the final drain a little later than you would in conventional growing.
Caution If you're harvesting with a combine, the paddy needs to be sufficiently dry. Adjust to your own paddy — for one with poor drainage, drain a bit earlier.

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11HarvestAbout 40-45 days after heading

What is this task?

Cutting the ripened rice — the culmination of the whole year. Judging the timing well is what ultimately decides the flavor and quality of the rice.

How to do it

The right time is when 80-90% of the grains across the panicle have turned golden, with just a trace of green remaining at the base. Cutting too early leaves more immature (green) grains; cutting too late leads to cracked grains and worse flavor. Either cut with a combine and run it through a dryer, or cut with a binder and hang it to dry on racks.

Natural cultivation point If time allows, dry it in the sun on hanging racks. Rice hung upside down keeps sending the remaining nutrients in the straw into the grain even as it dries slowly in the sun and wind, producing a depth of flavor machine drying can't match. Aim for a moisture content of around 15% after drying. Set aside next year's seed from the best-filled plants in this harvest.
Caution Cut promptly any rice lodged by a typhoon or prolonged rain before harvest. Left wet, it will sprout in the ear.

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12Autumn Tilling2-4 weeks after harvest (October-November)

What is this task?

Tilling the paddy in autumn once harvest is done, working the rice straw and cut grass into the soil. It's both the close of one year's rice farming and the start of the next.

How to do it

If you cut with a combine, spread the finely chopped straw evenly across the whole paddy first, then work it roughly into the soil with a shallow till of around 10cm. The trick is doing this once the straw has dried, while the paddy itself is still dry. Finishing before it turns cold lets the microbes slowly break down the straw over winter.

Natural cultivation point In rice farming without added fertilizer, returning straw and grass to the soil this way is exactly what builds soil vitality. Tilling it in during autumn lets decomposition progress by spring, avoiding the gas buildup (undecomposed straw fermenting and damaging roots) that often happens with spring tilling. Think of it this way: this year's rice farming isn't finished until the autumn tilling is done.
Caution Tilling a wet paddy kneads the soil and breaks down its structure. Choose a day when the paddy is dry. In snowy regions, finish before the first snowfall.

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Paddy Weed Guide and Control Methods

The basics of control without herbicide come down to the same "three-point prevention set" for every weed: ① careful leveling during puddling, ② deep-water management (5-7cm), and ③ disturbance-weeding at the early sprouting stage (chain → taguruma → inter-row cultivation at 7-day intervals). These three alone suppress about 80% of weeds. Handle the remaining 20% according to each weed's habit: for annuals, the rule is "don't let them drop seed"; for perennials that spread by tuber, it's "weaken the tubers with autumn tilling."

Overview of weeding methods

Deep-water management (prevention) Keep water 5-7cm deep from right after transplanting, suppressing germination of monochoria and barnyard grass at the source. Achieved just by checking the water daily — the foundation every other weeding method builds on.
Chain-weeding 2-10 days after transplanting, twice at 7-day intervals. Floats and kills sprouts still in the invisible thread stage. About 30 minutes per 10a. Can be made yourself from pipe and chain (¥3,000-10,000).
Taguruma (rotary weeder) Weeks 2-3 after transplanting. Disturbs and floats weeds just starting to grow in the row-gaps. 2-3 hours per 10a. Used units from ¥5,000. Its cultivation effect also improves root development.
Mechanical inter-row weeder The finishing pass, weeks 3-4 after transplanting. Tidies the row-gaps while putting oxygen into the soil. 1-1.5 hours per 10a with a walk-behind unit. Rental or shared use is common.
Hand-weeding As needed in June-July. The most painstaking and most reliable method, for weeds between hills and anything left behind. Just a single sickle needed. The golden rule: pull before seed drops.
Autumn tilling (prevention for next year) Tilling after harvest exposes tuber weeds to winter cold and breaks down straw. "Weeding for next year," it reliably reduces next season's weed pressure.

※ The basic combination is "deep water + chain → taguruma → inter-row weeding + hand-weeding." Adjust up or down to fit your paddy's conditions and how much labor you have.

Monochoria (Konagi)Annual · seed
Heart-shaped, glossy leaves. The single toughest paddy weed there is — it germinates all at once right after transplanting, and left unchecked will blanket the entire paddy and rob the rice of nutrients. The number one cause of failure in pesticide-free growing.
Control method At the early sprouting (thread) stage it floats and dies with only light disturbance, so the first chain-weeding pass (2-5 days after transplanting) is your single biggest opportunity to control it. It's also weak against deep water, so combine deep water with disturbance at 7-day intervals for thorough control. Hand-pull anything left over before it flowers in August, and never let it drop seed.
Barnyard Grass (Nobie, incl. Echinochloa oryzicola)Annual · seed
A grass weed that looks just like rice. Tell them apart at the base of the leaf — rice has a leaf-ear and small hairs there, barnyard grass has neither. Its base is also flatter and paler in color, another giveaway.
Control method Germination advances under shallow water or drying, so deep-water management is the most effective single measure. Row-gap plants come out with the taguruma or inter-row weeder, but anything left between hills needs hand-weeding. Once heads appear, always pull it out and remove it from the paddy before seed spills — a single plant can drop several thousand seeds.
Arrowhead (Omodaka)Perennial · tuber
Recognizable by its arrowhead-shaped leaves. It sprouts from tubers (small bulbs) underground and has real staying power, so disturbance-weeding alone won't knock it out. Blooms with white three-petaled flowers in summer.
Control method As a rule, pull it out by hand, tuber and all, as soon as you spot it — tearing off just the leaves lets it regrow. Autumn tilling brings the tubers up near the surface where winter drying and freezing reduce them year by year. Plan on it taking several years to eradicate.
Bulrush (Inuhotarui)Perennial · seed + tuber
A sedge-family plant that forms clumps of thin, needle-like stems. It spreads by both seed and tuber, and germinates quickly after puddling.
Control method Disturbance-weeding works well at the early sprouting stage, so keeping to the 7-day chain-weeding interval is the first priority. Hand-pull any established plants, tuber and all. Combining with deep water reduces germination itself.
Water Chestnut (Kuroguwai)Perennial · tuber
A stubborn weed similar to spikerush, with thin tubular stems. It sends up new sprouts continuously from tubers deep in the soil (10-20cm), so disturbance-weeding is almost useless against it.
Control method Hard to eradicate in a single year — reduce tuber numbers through measures repeated year after year. The only real path is the combination of digging up tubers with annual autumn tilling and exposing them to winter, plus pulling any plant you spot during the season. In heavily infested paddies, thorough mid-season drainage also helps suppress tuber formation.
Wapato-Type Arrowhead (Urikawa)Perennial · tuber
A member of the arrowhead family whose long, spatula-shaped leaves spread out in a rosette. It emerges from small tubers and spreads sideways via runners.
Control method Handle with disturbance-weeding plus hand-pulling at the early stage. As with arrowhead, digging up tubers during autumn tilling reduces next year's growth. Deep water weakens its germination vigor.
Water Dropwort (Seri)Perennial · runners
Also known as a fragrant wild vegetable, but in the paddy it invades from the bank edges by sending out runners.
Control method Managing the bank edge — its point of entry — comes first. Check the paddy's edge while you're mowing the banks and pull out any runners by hand. Catching it early, before it spreads into the paddy proper, is what matters most.
Spirogyra and Surface AlgaeAlgae
Thread-like algae that proliferates on and in the water. It flourishes in years with strong sunlight, tangling around small seedlings and knocking them over or blocking their light. Not technically a weed, but a common headache in the first year.
Control method If it blooms heavily, drain the water to dry it out once, or replace it with fresh water. Raking it out with a bamboo broom or rake also helps. Once the seedlings grow larger they stop losing to it, so raising sturdy, well-developed seedlings in the nursery is the best prevention.

※ Which weeds show up varies from paddy to paddy. Observing and recording "which weeds are dominant in this paddy" during year one sharpens your approach from year two onward. Weeds are an adversary, but they're also an indicator that tells you about the condition of your paddy's soil.

The Top 5 Year-One Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

Almost every mistake that people ahead of you have actually made in year one boils down to these five. Put another way, avoid just these five and you'll make it to harvest.

1. Suddenly the paddy is full of weeds (the most common mistake)
If your plan is "I'll weed once weeds show up," it's already too late by the time you can see them. Once monochoria has sprouted across the whole paddy, you can't pull it all.
How to avoid it Fix the weeding schedule on your calendar in advance. Go into the paddy on days 3, 10, and 15 after transplanting no matter what, even if you can't see any weeds. "Do it before you can see them" is the only real defense.
2. Planting too deep or too dense stunts the rice
Out of anxiety, planting lots of seedlings deep leads to poor tillering, blocked airflow, and more disease.
How to avoid it Trust sparse planting — 2-3 stems per hill, shallow, 40-50 hills per tsubo. It looks unconvincing right after planting, but by July you won't recognize it.
3. An uneven paddy floor means the water doesn't work
Where there's a difference in elevation, the high spots end up shallower, and weeds sprout there all at once. Even with deep water, you get "islands" poking above the surface.
How to avoid it When contracting out the puddling, specifically ask for "careful leveling." Even just smoothing the high spots with a leveling board after the finishing puddling makes a difference. Think of leveling as your substitute for herbicide.
4. Water-management mistakes (letting it run dry, draining too early)
Letting the water run dry around heading causes sterile grain; draining too early before harvest leaves the rice thin.
How to avoid it Never let the water run dry for the two weeks around heading. Drain 10 days before harvest. Put both of these dates on your calendar straight from the schedule tool.
5. Missing the harvest window
The classic pattern: waiting too long because "it still looks green," ending up with cracked grain and worse flavor, or scrambling after a typhoon knocks the rice down.
How to avoid it Note your heading date, then start checking the grain color in the paddy from day 40 onward (80-90% golden is your signal). If you're booking a combine, make the reservation as soon as you know your heading date.

One more time, to close. Success in year one isn't measured by "yield" — it's measured by "reaching harvest." The taste of a single bowl of rice grown in your own paddy is something nothing else can replace. And that experience will make year two's rice even better.

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Disclaimer

The timing, day counts, projected heading and harvest dates, yields, and costs given on this site are general estimates based on common knowledge, and we make no guarantee of their accuracy or completeness. Actual growth varies considerably by region, paddy conditions, variety, seed origin, and that year's weather. When carrying out any task, prioritize your own observation of your paddy above all, and consult your local agricultural extension center, JA, or experienced growers as needed.

The site operator accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any damage arising from use of the information on this site, including reduced yield, lower quality, losses related to materials or equipment, or any other disadvantage. Content on this site is also subject to change without notice.

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Year One Guide to Naturally Grown Rice Farming ― a roadmap to growing rice without pesticides, chemical fertilizer, or herbicides
Timing, day counts, and costs are all estimates. Please adjust them to fit your region, variety, and that year's weather.
Disclaimer