Growing rice
Oryza sativaPaddy is usually raised in a nursery and transplanted into puddled, flooded fields, though it can also be sown direct. Most regions grow it in the monsoon; some take a second or third crop.
West coast: Kerala, Goa, Konkan, coastal Karnataka, south Gujarat
At a glance
Rice in the West coast
Three crops in Kerala: virippu (April to May through September to October), mundakan (September to October through December to January) and puncha (December to January through March to April).12
About 105 to 150 days, by variety: short varieties suit the virippu and puncha crops, longer ones the mundakan crop and flooded fields.
No published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.April to May12
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
Too late this season
The window here was September to October. The next one opens in December.
- Sow
- Nursery
- Transplant
- Harvest
- Today
- Not suited here
Compare all 12 regionsShow fewer regions
See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West coast | April to MaySeptember to OctoberDecember to January | September to OctoberDecember to JanuaryMarch to April | ||
| Temperate Himalaya | Last week of April (Kashmir valley)Late March to late April (temperate Jammu, higher areas earlier) | Last week of May (lower belts) to mid-June (higher belts); finish by 21 June | Late September to October, later in the higher belts | |
| Cold desert | Not suited here | |||
| Sub-tropical foothills | With the first monsoon shower (direct-sown rainfed rice) | Early May to the third week of June, by variety | Mid-June to 21 July (late dates only when the monsoon fails) | Early October (PC-19 in the recommended rice-marigold-French bean sequence) |
| North-west plains | 1 to 15 June (direct-seeded rice) | 20 May to 20 June | 20 June to 10 July | |
| Gangetic plains | Late May to late July, by variety duration (Bihar)November to December | July to early August, with 3 to 4 week seedlingsAfter mid-January, once it is warmer than 10°C | By mid-November (long-duration varieties)May to June | |
| North-east hills and valleys | March to AprilJune to July | April to MayJuly to AugustSeptember (late sali, 4 to 6 seedlings a hill) | ||
| Arid west | Not suited here | |||
| Central plateau | Late June to early July (direct-sown, with the first good rain) | Mid-June to early July, with the monsoon | July to early August | Late October to November |
| Deccan plateau | June to JulyLate November to December | July to AugustJanuary to early February | Late October to NovemberLate April to May | |
| South interior | December to JanuaryApril to JuneSeptember to October | |||
| East coast | June to JulyAugustSeptember to OctoberDecember to JanuaryApril to May | |||
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
Ploughing
Farmyard manure, compost or green leaf
5 t per hectare
Work in while ploughing
Ploughing (Onattukara)
Vermicompost or coir pith compost
2.5 t per hectare
In place of the 5 t of FYM
Sowing (dry-seeded semi-dry rice)
Cowpea as green manure
12.5 kg per hectare of seed
Sow with the rice; it rots into the soil when the monsoon floods the field at about six weeks
Day 0
Sow
Day 105 to 150
Last picking
No published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Before sowing
Farmyard manure, compost or green leaf
5 t per hectare · Work in while ploughing · Ploughing
Vermicompost or coir pith compost
2.5 t per hectare · In place of the 5 t of FYM · Ploughing (Onattukara)
Cowpea as green manure11
12.5 kg per hectare of seed · Sow with the rice; it rots into the soil when the monsoon floods the field at about six weeks · Sowing (dry-seeded semi-dry rice)
Day 0
Sow
Day 1 to 2
Day 18 to 25
Day 105 to 150
Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Stop irrigating and drain the field 7 to 10 days before the expected harvest.13
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH4,7,12
5 to 9
Clay to clay loam soils that turn to soft mud when puddled and hold water well; loams also suit. Soils that drain fast waste water.
Sunlight4
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun. Punjab's guide links high yields to about 6 to 11 hours of bright sunshine a day, depending on crop stage.
Temperature4,7,12
Grows best at 20 to 34 °C
Monthly temperatures for the West coast aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
Watering13
Stop irrigating and drain the field 7 to 10 days before the expected harvest.
WeedingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Weed by hand or with a cono or rotary weeder at about 20 and 40 days after transplanting. Keeping 3 to 5 cm of water in the field holds weeds back.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ploughing | Farmyard manure, compost or green leaf | 5 t per hectare | Work in while ploughing |
| Ploughing (Onattukara) | Vermicompost or coir pith compost | 2.5 t per hectare | In place of the 5 t of FYM |
| Sowing (dry-seeded semi-dry rice) | Cowpea as green manure | 12.5 kg per hectare of seed | Sow with the rice; it rots into the soil when the monsoon floods the field at about six weeks |
Varieties and yield
35 to 50 quintals a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Jyothi, Kanchana, Annapoorna, Matta Triveni
Short duration
Uma, Aathira, Jaya
Medium duration
Mahsuri
Long duration; also waterlogged and flooded areas
Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Pests and diseasesNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Organic and cultural controls only.
Stem borer
Signs
Dead central shoots in young plants and white, empty ears later.
What to do
- Clip the leaf tips of seedlings before transplanting to remove egg masses
- Set up pheromone traps and bird perches
- Harvest close to the ground and plough in the stubble
Brown planthopper
Signs
Hoppers gather at the base of the plants; patches turn brown and dry out (hopper burn).
What to do
- Leave a narrow walking gap every few metres of rows so light and air reach the base
- Drain the field for three or four days
- Avoid heavy nitrogen-rich manuring
Leaf folder
Signs
Leaves folded into tubes with white, scraped streaks.
What to do
- Drag a rope across the crop to shake the caterpillars off
- Keep bunds clear of grass
Gall midge
Signs
The central shoot turns into a hollow, silvery tube (silver shoot) and bears no ear.
What to do
- Plant on time rather than late
- Pull out and destroy affected tillers early
- Grow varieties your local KVK lists as tolerant
Blast
Signs
Spindle-shaped spots with grey centres and brown edges on the leaves; in bad attacks the neck of the panicle rots and breaks over.
Prevention
- Sow clean seed from a healthy crop
- Do not overdo nitrogen-rich manures
- Grow varieties your local KVK lists as tolerant
Sheath blight
Signs
Grey-green oval patches on the leaf sheaths near the water line that spread upwards.
Prevention
- Keep spacing wide enough for air to move
- Keep bunds free of grass
- Compost or plough in stubble from an affected crop
Bacterial leaf blight
Signs
Yellow stripes from the leaf tips and edges that dry to straw colour, often after storms or floods.
What to do
- Drain the field for a few days when it appears
Prevention
- Do not let water run from one field to the next
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1,4
Pick a good patch of the standing crop and rogue out off-types and sick plants. Harvest and thresh it separately.
Dry the grain well, to about 12 per cent moisture, and keep it in clean bins.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
After the main crops, fields take pulses, sesame or vegetables in the summer fallow, or a further rice crop where water stays. Plough in the stubble.
Mixing or keeping rice straw in the field builds soil health over the years. Jammu's guide chops straw into pieces of about 5 cm and ploughs it in about 10 days before the next crop.
Rotation
Common rotations in the north: rice followed by wheat, berseem, gram, potato, peas, mustard or barley, often with summer moong or a green manure crop before the next rice.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Paddy: crop production guide (Agro Advisory Services)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: seed rate and spacingCentre for e-Learning, Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: manuringCentre for e-Learning, Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: climate and soilCentre for e-Learning, Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: harvestingCentre for e-Learning, Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: varietiesCentre for e-Learning, Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: seasons and varietiesTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Transplanted puddled lowland rice: wet nurseryTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Package of Practices for Kharif Crops 2016: Rice; Rice cultivation in temperate and semi-temperate regionsDirectorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
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