Rice Farms

Among the things that attract me to visit our farm in Pangasinan, which is generally far from Manila, is the sight seeing of many rice farms on the road. The rice plots below are not from our farm, but in the same barrio or village.

Newly uprooted young rice to be planted in well-spaced plots.

Rice field, a backyard piggery surrounded by rice plots, people planting rice.

A farmer showing the newly uprooted, bundled young rice. These will then be replanted in well-spaced plots.  Lower photo, threshing newly-harvested rice.

Trees in the Farm, Pangasinan

We started planting in the farm sometime in 1992, wow that was 20 years ago. Then we stopped planting after about six or seven years, I think. The older trees have been spreading their seeds that the young trees, tens of thousands of them, have grown like grasses. We have to pull or cut them out, otherwise our area would become so dark with so many trees, inviting plenty of mosquitoes and other pests.

Below, the trees near my treehouse, sometime in early 2009. These are mostly mahogany trees.

Trees as of December 2010, just a few meters from my treehouse.

As of February 2011. These are near our irrigation canal and water impounding structure.

Also as of February 2011. The road going to the public (no longer forested) land.

As of April 2011. In the above photos, taken from my old camera phone. Lower photos below taken from our digicam.

More photos from the digicam, also in April 2011.

Below, as of April 2012.

Cecid Fly or "Kurikong Manga"

Our mango trees in the farm in Pangasinan -- please note that I only visit and help manage the farm, I don't own it -- are already huge mature. Not too many, maybe 200+ trees, but not all are bearing fruit regularly. Some are too close to mature forest trees and lose in the competition for sunlight, some are too close to each other, just 10-15 meters apart when they should be 20-25 meters apart, while others were felled by previous typhoons.

There are years that we harvest plenty enough, but in most years, the harvest is low for various reasons. The first major threat is pest infestation, second is forest and/or grass fire, usually coming from the public forest land or in neighboring private farms. Third is strong typhoon or continued rains even in supposedly dry months. We clean the mango trees and their surrounding as much as possible, especially when the fruits are getting bigger. To reduce or prevent pest infestation, control grassfire, and so on.

Some nice photos of mango trees when they are bearing plenty of flowers, later the young mango fruits, below.

This year, we harvested practically nothing, due to pest infestation called "kurikong manga" or cecid fly.

From some literatures:

(a) Kurikong Infests Mango Farms in Central Luzon

... a pest called cecid fly or gall midge.

This fly, known as ‘saksak walis’ or `kurikong’ in Luzon, `buti,’ or `armalite,’ ‘Gloria-gloria,’ or ‘Nora-nora’ in the Visayas and Mindanao, infests mango farms across the country.

The adult mango cecid fly resembles a mosquito and commonly lays its eggs on young mango leaves. The larvae which develop from eggs, mine the leaves producing dark green circular galls or swelling of tissues along the leaf blade. When the adults emerge from these galls, the leaves develop circular spots or holes which are sometimes mistaken as fungal infection. Under heavy infestations, the leaves wrinkle and turn yellow.

The infestation, however, affects the fruits more. When hit early, young mango fruits fall off from the tree. Fruits that remain produce circular brown scab-like spots randomly distributed on the fruit’s surface. Infested fruits retain these scabby lesions up to harvest time, thus affecting the quality and commanding a lower market price....

(b) Preventing “Kurikong” Problem In Mango

The damage inflicted by the Cecid fly on mango fruits, more popularly known as ‘Kurikong,’ is becoming an important concern of mango growers in many parts of the country.

Affected fruits are usually unmarketable because of the circular black or brown scabby lesions on the skin of the fruits. Both small and big fruits are affected. If the infestation is early, the affected young fruits usually drop from the tree.

On the other hand, affected fruits that reach maturity are unattractive and if they can be sold at all, they fetch a very low price. Some of the affected fruits also crack, according to the BPI experts.

The Cecid fly is a small mosquito-like insect that is active at night so spraying should be done at night or late in the afternoon. It lays its eggs on the developing fruits. If the mango tree is not in fruit, the Cecid fly lays its eggs on the leaves, causing circular protuberances on the surface.

The egg and larval stages are spent in the fruit while the pupal stage is spent in the ground, according to the BPI. The adult lives for only three to five days. Being small, the adults can be carried by wind. The pupa can be introduced in a new place when infested soil of planting materials is transported to that new place....

Bagging of mango fruits, ie, wrapping each and every fruit with paper, is a very labor intensive activity. There are huge costs involved, although the benefits are clear too, like the prevention of cecid fly attacks.

We should seriously consider this option next year.

My article today in the online magazine, thelobbyist.biz.

http://www.thelobbyist.biz/perspectives/less-gorvernment/1256-flooding-and-erosion-control-via-terraces

Flooding and Erosion Control via Terraces

WEDNESDAY, 04 JANUARY 2012 02:19

WRITTEN BY NONOY OPLAS

Tags: Less Government

With the on-going global cooling – not warming, it’s a scam – we should prepare for more rain and more flood, not more drought; we should prepare for rising rivers and lakes, not rising ocean.

The bad news is that heavy typhoons like Ondoy, Pedring and Sendong are just “intro”. There will be more heavy rains and typhoons to come, not just for the next few years but for decades. I have discussed in various articles here in the past why global cooling will last for many years and decades. It’s the Sun and galactic cosmic rays that mainly determine climate cycles of warming-cooling-warming-cooling in our planet.

One way to reduce – but never stop or control – flash flood during heavy rains, is to trap and impound those rainwater along with eroded organic matter in small tributaries like small creeks and waterways. No need for government to do this, only some hard work, imagination and big number of stones nearby. Below is a mini-dam we constructed near my treehouse in a farm in Bugallon, Pangasinan.

Top photos, left and right as of July and December 2010, respectively. Lower photos as of December 2011. The man standing is our caretaker, Mang Endring. He is old now, so we get some younger guys to help us collect those big number of stones in a nearby creek. So far, this mini-dam, no cement or steel added, only stones and organic matter, has survived several strong typhoons with heavy flash flood in 2010 and 2011. Meaning our design of this stone terrace was good and stable.

Below are what’s at the back of this mini-dam and stone terrace. Top photos as of July 2010, lower photos as of December 2011. Note the big depression at the back, that’s the old waterway that is getting higher as the eroded topsoil and other organic matter from higher grounds are slowly trapped and impounded. This depression becomes a big pool during heavy rains, so you can imagine the big volume of rainwater that is prevented from contributing to flash flood in the nearby creek.

We started building that mini-dam around March 2010, but I forgot to take photos that time. It was just an experimental mini-dam which I thought would just be about two feet high. Now it’s about six feet high and it’s getting wider and taller.

We started building terraces near my treehouse in early 2004. Below, top photos as of 2004, and lower photos as of mid-2010. The mahogany trees are getting larger and taller. These structures have controlled soil erosion and strong water run off during heavy rains in this part of the farm.

We also built stone terraces in other parts of the farm, photos below. The principle is simple. Control or at least reduce soil erosion and flash flooding in sloping land by building stone terraces that will trap and impound temporarily strong water run off. The dried or new leaves and branches that are scattered are gathered and deposited at the back of those stone terraces. These organic matters later decompose and become rich and soft soil

The process should be endless as the trees change their leaves every year, so the organic matter deposit keeps rising each year. By extension, those terraces should be rising too – if we can keep up with the labor-intensive but rewarding activity.

For big waterways and creeks, it is impossible to build many dams, otherwise there will be more flooding of the lower plains. What is needed for those big rivers is continued dredging of the mouth of those rivers to make the river beds become deeper and hence, increasing their water holding capacity and prevent or reduce flooding of lower plains, especially river delta.

Government resources should better be used in such large-scale dredging of big rivers. Government should not waste our tax money conducting those useless climate meetings and climate bureaucracies that tell people to prepare for “more drought, more warming, rising ocean” as these things will not come. We should prepare for more rains, more flood, and rising rivers. 

Creek, canal and irrigation

Our farm has a nearby creek. It becomes a big and wild river though during heavy rains and flash flood. It would look look like this on a regular rainy season but no heavy rains. Nice, tender water.

Photos taken last July 21, 2011. A few days or weeks of no heavy rain, the water can be rather thin.

Taken August 30, 2011. There was rain that day, but not strong. The water was a bit muddy.

We have a canal, we dug it around 2005 or 2006. Diverted a small volume of water from the creek, impounded it, connected to 4 pvc hoses. The excess water simply go back to the creek.

The 4 hoses are attached to a strong wire, across the creek, to the rice field on the other side. Photos taken July 21, 2011.

Upper photos, the mouth of the canal, from the upper side of the creek. Lower photos the water from the hoses, and the young rice plant.

This canal is one of our best investments in the farm. Zero cost for fuel to pump up the water from the creek or river to irrigate the rice field, on fallow during the dry months of March to May, or limited vegetable plots.

My swimming pool in the farm, 2005

Sometime in 2005, I created -- with the help of our farm caretakers of course -- an artifical swimming pool in a creek in the farm, not far from my treehouse. A free flowing water in the creek, we put up a thick layer of stones and sand at the end to impound the water. Really nice to swim on it.

Top view of the pool, the rice field on the left. It was a very labor-intensive project with full knowledge that it was just temporary because when the rainy season would come, the flash flood will simply wipe out all the fruits of our labor. But it was worth doing it.

I brought several friends from Manila, some from abroad, to my pool. They liked it. Cool, free flowing water, some native fishes swimming on it too. I think the deepest part was about 5 feet. The pool attracted me to go to the farm from Manila almost every weekend then.

The tail or area where the water drains back to the regular flow of the creek. Several layers of stones and gravel made the water then drinkable. Nice natural filters.

Three of our workers then, two were regular, including my uncle from Negros Occidental who tried working there for a few months just to see northern Luzon :-), one was occasional or per day worker.

With one of our dogs then, Michael, a retriever.

My girlfriend then, now my wife, Ella, and my dog, Michael, he was given to my by my sister because Michael did not like being tied up in a chain. At the farm, Michael then has all the freedom to run around anywhere, no chain or rope.

Been there done that somehow, I don't intend to create another pool in the creek though. Having it once and fully enjoyed it was enough.

Stone terraces, Part 4

This is the stone terrace that we built since around February-March 2010. It has blocked and impounded several cubic meters of organic matter like dried leaves and branches, eroded topsoil brought down by the flash flood, and so on. The Before and After pictures after the thick dried mahogany leaves were cleared on the terrace.

Here’s a comparison of the pictures, June 2010 and April 2011. This structure has survived the past flash floods during the last rainy season. Meaning the structure is stable and well-constructed enough. And the thick organic matter behind the stones have acted as supporting materials to impound everything that was brought down by the flash flood.

Another comparison of the terrace, top view. There was a huge deposit of dried leaves last month and this month under the mahogany trees. We just have to gather and transfer those that are far from this impounding area.

And here's the gully that we hope to be covered with various organic matter and rich soil in a few years. I would say that this is a rather ambitious project. The depth of the gully from its two high sides is probably around 8 to 10 meters. This area will three important functions: (a) reduce flash flood during heavy rains, (b) impound organic matter and rich top soil, and (c) beautification as the stones will become a huge wall someday.

Vegetable plots

The main products in our farm are mangos. Then forest trees, and a small rice output. I will write more about them in future “Farming notes” series.

Recently, our caretaker, Nong Endring Paragas, partnered with one of his neighbors in the barangay proper, Anoling, to plant more vegetables during the dry season. They planted sitao (stringbeans). It was a good decision. Sitao would grow up to 4 months, nearly 3 months of which a farmer can harvest twice a week on average on the same plant. So they have regular supply of free vegetables in their house while earning some money by selling the surplus products.

They also planted talong (eggplant). From the pictures I took last weekend, it seems that their talong are growing well. Photo above, that’s me . Photo below also shows some kalabasa (quash) and ampalaya crawling on an elevated structure.

These are organic vegetables. The scope of production though is small scale. Their excess harvest are sold only in the barrio or in the town center.

Nong Endring also has several banana plants. The main enemy of banana though, are the bats and sometimes rats. They attack the bananas even before the fruits would mature. Grassfire and forest fire from somewhere in the uplands would also damage bananas and other crops.