Send a Dowry at Transplant, Then Read the 180-Day Chart

When does the crop need its extra feeding, and how do you read a stage chart to know what to give?

The rice chart (DJSS5255) is projected for the whole page; Cho points with a long pointer, partly seated after about 1:40. Dates and leaf counts here were read off the chart and checked against the photo. Drake made an English version of the chart overnight that marks levels H, M and L.

• The dowry: extra feeding at the end of Type 2 (transplanting) — No recipe or rate given on this page. Cho: give it at the end of Type 2, when the seedling 'marries' into the field (rice, May 5); she keeps the money and spends it when she's pregnant. The interpreter: 'That's why we're using Type 2 right before getting married.' The handout has no separate dowry column; its Type 2 column is on page 4.
• Nutrient needs by stage (rice chart, DJSS5255) — Vegetative, consumptive growth (Type 2): N high, P high, K low, Ca low. Changeover, conservation growth: N low, P high, K medium, Ca medium ('makes the body firm'). Reproductive, accumulating growth: N low, P medium, K medium, Ca high ('maintains the body'). Cho's Korean matches the chart throughout; the interpreter said 'lots of calcium phosphate' for the reproductive stage, where the chart and Cho have phosphorus medium.

1. Rice is transplanted at the strong-seedling stage, May 5, and gets Type 2 again in the main field

   Chart: 장묘 5/5, type II. The second half is the interpreter's.

   ▶ 1:24:37 From the slides

2. Give the extra feeding at the end of Type 2, at transplanting, like a dowry

   Type 2 builds the trunk, like a daughter at home until about 22. Given at the end of Type 2, the crop roots in (착근) well in the field and fruits well.

   ▶ 1:29:23 As spoken

3. Make your solutions ahead of time so the right one is ready at the right stage

   Without it, the crop gets 'inner sickness': disease and bug attack, and fruit that doesn't form and falls (interpreter).

   ▶ 1:31:09 As spoken

4. Natural Farming is a work in progress; Hawaiʻi has to build its own cycle for its own weather

   Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Korea all differ. CGNF should gather each region's results into a global Natural Farming standard. Cho's new book, combining his roughly ten Korean books with about 300 photos, was due by the end of November 2017.

   ▶ 1:34:00 As spoken

5. Rice chart dates: sprouting 2/12, young seedling 3/12, strong seedling 5/5, second stage 6/12–15 to 6/27–7/2

   Then flowering 7/3–7, embryo growth 8/7, embryo ripening 8/17, 9/3. The interpreter misread 6/27–7/2 as 'June 12th to July 22nd'.

   ▶ 1:39:25 From the slides

6. Rice by leaf count: transplant (first stage) at 5–6 leaves, second stage 10–11 leaves, third stage 15 leaves

   Look at the date, the type the plant should be in and the leaf count, and at a glance you know which stage it is and what to give.

   ▶ 1:39:35 From the slides

7. Rice is a 180-day crop: seed in February 12, harvest September 2

   Chart's last date is 9/3. Cho: papaya or banana in Hawaiʻi, from flower to harvest, works out to 180 days 'just the same'.

   ▶ 1:42:53 As spoken

8. Divide a 180-day chart for your crop and it tells you what to give on which days, and what the plant should look like

   Hold the chart up against the crop and you can tell whether you are late or early, then adjust with the nutrients, instead of wandering the field.

   ▶ 1:44:10 As spoken

9. The same kind of chart works for chickens, pigs and cattle

   Feed and nutrients matched to each period; they don't get sick and they develop well.

   ▶ 1:45:27 As spoken

10. Plants and animals get sick more from eating too much than from hunger: fertilize a little short of enough

    Given a little less than enough, it's taken up well and the plant grows sturdy. 'Less is more' (interpreter).

    ▶ 1:47:49 As spoken

11. Coffee given too much fertilizer drops more fruit

    Cho's example for overfeeding.

    ▶ 1:48:26 As spoken

12. Vegetative growth (Type 2): nitrogen high, phosphorus high, potassium low, calcium low

    Chart 소비생장 (raised on the endosperm, 'the mother's milk'): N多 P多 K少 Ca少. 'This is the fertilizer that builds up the body.'

    ▶ 1:48:50 From the slides

13. The VI printed under sprouting is a mistake for IV; IV is the seed stage, at harvest and at planting

    Raised by the interpreter and Drake; Cho: 'Number 4.'

    ▶ 1:50:36 From the slides

14. Changeover (conservation growth): nitrogen low, phosphorus high, potassium medium, calcium medium

    Chart 보전생장: N少 P多 K中 Ca中, 'makes the body firm'. Leaf counts 6.5–11, 9–10, 11–15 (Cho read them like dates).

    ▶ 1:51:26 From the slides

15. Reproductive (accumulating) growth: nitrogen low, phosphorus medium, potassium medium, calcium high

    Chart 축적생장: N少 P中 K中 Ca多, 'maintains the body'. For fruit trees this is also when next spring's flowers are prepared. Then it goes to seed.

    ▶ 1:53:36 From the slides