Hi all...
I harvest/seed wild rice with my ol'man in Northern Manitoba (Herb Lake landing by Snow Lake)
Here are a couple of points about Northern Manitoba Long Grain Wild Rice.
1.) Beavers / Muskrats don't eat wild rice. Beavers do dam up the lakes which in turn raises the water level of the lake to points where the plant will not grow...hence beavers are bad. Muskrats are bad too, because they build their dam houses in the bays where the rice can grow nice and thick. If you are not careful, hitting them with the rice boat can cause your pants to fill up with poo rather quickly...heheh.
Even if they did eat it, there are not enough of them to do major harm to a crop. You have to worry about the flock of geese/ducks.
2.) Ducks / Geese love to eat wild rice. They will eat the whole plant right down to the waterline...They are bad for us ricers. Fire at will
3.) Wild rice does not stink. Sure, if it’s been in a bag submerged in water for a couple of months anything will stink, but fresh harvested wild rice has no smell to it. Though you do have to keep it damp or it will start to germinate. So you either sell, store (in bags under water) or seed it.
4.)Planting....Just throw it into the water. Good rice will shoot to the bottom with no trouble at all. If you bought some seed rice and most of it floats when you throw it in the lake, don't buy from that guy again.
5) Wild Rice likes lakes/bays 4-5 foot deep with a fresh water supply and a nice muddy bottom. No stagnant marsh or ponds.
6) Rice can be harvested every year. It re-seeds itself every fall. Harvesting wild rice is VERY un-efficient and the majority falls right back into the lake. And at $1.30 a pound green, that’s very sad ….hehehe.
7) Except for the Beaver population, Mother Nature has total control over how well the rice will grow. Conditions have to be almost perfect for a good crop.
If you have any other question about Wild Rice / Harvesting let me know.
Cheers,
J.