Rice fields.....
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Joined: Nov 2004
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From: N. Mississippi
Rice fields.....
Hi everyone. Here I go again wondering about why things are done the way they are.
Here in N MS, there are several rice fields nearby in the 'delta' area as it's called. I was wondering why the irrigation ditches that are used to flood the rice are always laid out in curves. Is there a reason for this?
Looks to me like straight ditches would accomplish the same thing. Any rice farmers here that would care to explain why they are dug this way?
Richard
Here in N MS, there are several rice fields nearby in the 'delta' area as it's called. I was wondering why the irrigation ditches that are used to flood the rice are always laid out in curves. Is there a reason for this?
Looks to me like straight ditches would accomplish the same thing. Any rice farmers here that would care to explain why they are dug this way?
Richard
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From: covington wa.
I think, but dont know for sure, But are'nt
irregation ditches are topographicly laid out to keep the water
flowing at a constant, so you see the ditch meandering around following the layout of the land.
irregation ditches are topographicly laid out to keep the water
flowing at a constant, so you see the ditch meandering around following the layout of the land.
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From: N. Mississippi
The land where these rice fields are located is as flat as a table top and the field itself as a whole is rectangular in shape. I can see what you mean if the stuff is grown on hillsides like in Japan but the land is so flat here.
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From: Goldsboro, NC
I'm not a rice farmer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Might be curved because the grade on the land is too steep run a straight ditch. The land may apper flat, but it might have a grade that drops too quickly. Don't know what the desired drop is, 1" drop per 1000'? Dunno?
Last edited by scole250; Jul 25, 2005 at 02:00 PM.
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From: covington wa.
Believe it or not the water has to flow, so there has to be alittle
slop and maybe to the naked eye it looks flat but that water has
to flow from one side of the field to the other, or it will just pool
up at one end or the other or in the middle. But there is someone
out there who truely knows why.
slop and maybe to the naked eye it looks flat but that water has
to flow from one side of the field to the other, or it will just pool
up at one end or the other or in the middle. But there is someone
out there who truely knows why.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Goldsboro, NC
Another possibility is that they're curved to provide a larger area for water to spill out from. To flood a given area in a fixed amount of time, you have to send a certain number of gallons per hour through the ditches and out onto the fields. If a curved ditch is twice as long a straight ditch, then the water would have to flow out of a straight ditch twice as fast as water from the curved ditch. Maybe it's so you can flood it faster and keep the flow rate from the ditch to the field at an acceptable level?
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I am no expert, but the one reason I can think of is to slow the flow of water. You wouldn't want the water flowing to fast as it would wash the plants away. Being in mud, they would be susceptible to being washed away with high flow water. A curve would slow the water, just like a bend in a river.
Last edited by kingfish51; Jul 25, 2005 at 05:13 PM.
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