Enemy found

After close observation, our agronomist Lynhe found that our seeds have been destroyed by ants. I have noticed that there were a lot of empty husks earlier, wondering if there were something eating the seeds or they were just shed when the seeds germinated. However, there are too many of them compared to the number of seedlings we have. We added 4 more nursery beds on Wednesday, sowing more seeds so we could have enough seedlings for transplanting. The staff carefully put a thin layer of mud and then plantain leaves on top of the seeds, to protect them from birds, sun, and drying out. When we were checking these new seeds this morning, we were surprised to see that there were some empty husks on the top, yet no sign of germination. After removing all the leaf covers, we found groups of ants carrying some white particles. After examining the other nursery beds closely, we found many partly destroyed seeds that have holes on the husks and the kernel inside were fragmentary with the remained part kibbling or even powdery. And there are ants running around on the nursery beds. Lynhe pointed out that it was probably the ants that have been eating our seeds, which explained what the white particles those ants transporting–small pieces of rice kernels! 

 

Tons of ants carrying broken kernels away!

 

 

(empty husks left behind)

We are not sure where the ants came from. There are a couple of ant nests in the field, but they are all on the bunds, and the nursery beds were surrounded by water. It is possible that they were on the leaves, but there are too many of them. There is really not much we could do to stop this. 

Other than checking the nursery beds, we puddled and leveled the plots yesterday and this morning, getting prepared for transplanting next week. The mud is pretty deep and my boots are not tall enough to keep the water out, so I went in with bare foot. It was actually easier to balance myself with bare foot than wearing boots, because my toes could stretching out and grab the ground. The plots were flooded in advance. We crushed chunks of mud, threw out roots of weeds and hard branches, blended the mud with water, and even the surface, all done by hand. There were 8 of us, and we finished 11 plots in two mornings. After working, we had some sugarcanes. The sweet juice is always an awesome rewarding.