Eclipta zippeliana: How to Spot and Control It in Rice Fields
Eclipta zippeliana is a hairy broadleaf weed that looks almost the same as false daisy. That is why farmers call both plants higis manok. It grows in irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields in the Philippines. This page shows you how to tell the two apart and how this weed competes with your palay. It also shows how to control it before it seeds.
What Is Eclipta zippeliana?
Eclipta zippeliana is a close cousin of false daisy, and both belong to the sunflower family, Asteraceae. Farmers use the same names for both: higis manok, tultulisan and tinta tinta. Since the two share their local names, they are easy to mix up. That is fine for control, but it still helps to know which one you have.
You can find it in irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields. This weed lives for one season only. Within a single crop it sprouts, flowers, sets seed and dies. Like false daisy, it spreads by seed. Its fleshy, reddish stems can also root at the joints when they touch wet soil. So a fallen stem can anchor itself in the mud and keep growing.
| Name | Eclipta zippeliana |
|---|---|
| Family | Asteraceae (Compositae) |
| Weed group | Broadleaves (see the three groups) |
| Local names | Higis manok, tultulisan, tinta tinta |
| Life cycle | Annual |
| Spreads by | Seeds |
| Where it grows | Irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields |
How to Identify Eclipta zippeliana
At first look it seems like higis manok, with reddish, fleshy stems that root at the joints, leaves in opposite pairs, and small white flower heads about 1 cm across. Now look closer. The leaves are light green, not dark green. They are oblong and wider toward the tip, or lance shaped, with coarse, spiny teeth on the edge. Many hairs cover the stems and leaves. As a broadleaf weed, its leaves have netted veins, unlike grasses and sedges.
- Reddish, fleshy stems that root at the joints where they touch wet soil.
- Light green leaves in opposite pairs, paler than the dark green leaves of false daisy.
- Leaf edges with coarse teeth, each one tipped by a tiny spine.
- Stems and leaves thickly covered with hairs, much hairier than false daisy.
- Small white flower heads about 1 cm across, just like those of higis manok.
Why It Hurts Your Palay
This weed competes with your palay for sunlight, water and fertilizer. It is at home on wet soil, so a lowland paddy suits it well. When it fills the spaces between rice hills early in the season, the young crop gets less of everything it needs. Fertilizer you paid for ends up feeding the weed.
Since it is an annual that spreads by seed, each plant that flowers adds to the seed supply in your soil. Next season, those seeds come up with the new crop. Seeds can also mix with harvested palay and lower its quality. Dense patches can shelter insects and rats near your rice too.
How to Control Eclipta zippeliana
- Pull it out while it is young, and lift every rooted stem joint so no piece stays anchored in the mud.
- Carry pulled plants out of the paddy. Fleshy stems left lying on wet soil can root again at the joints.
- Since it shares the life cycle of false daisy, one routine works for both. Weed early and remove plants before the white flowers set seed.
- Clean the bunds and canal edges. Plants that flower there can drop seed back into the paddy.
What to Do at Each Age of Your Rice
- 0 to 5 days: keep the soil saturated. Use a pre emergence herbicide only if the field had many weeds last season.
- 6 to 10 days: hand weed in transplanted rice. In direct seeded rice, this is the window for an early post emergence spray.
- 11 to 20 days: keep water in the field, weed by hand or with a rotary weeder, and let Azolla and the Altica beetle help. Spray only if those fail.
- 21 to 30 days: top up the water and keep weeding. Spray only if weeding fails.
- 31 to 40 days (transplanted rice): hand weed. A spray this late is only a rescue.
- After any post emergence spray, bring the water back within 1 to 3 days at 3 to 5 cm and hold it for 4 to 5 days. Keep young rice above it.
Active Ingredients That Work on Broadleaves
If water and weeding cannot hold Eclipta zippeliana down, choose an active ingredient that works on broadleaves at the age of your rice. Each active ingredient in it is in a herbicide registered in the Philippines for rice. Shop by the ingredient on the label, never by the brand. If your field also has other kinds of weeds, the weed control helper in anee.io finds the ingredients that cover all of them.
| Rice age (days after planting) | Transplanted rice (lipat tanim) | Direct seeded rice (sabog tanim) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 days | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Imazosulfuron, Penoxsulam plus butachlor, Tefuryltrione plus triafamone, Thiobencarb plus 2,4 D IBE | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Pretilachlor plus butachlor, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pendimethalin, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Butachlor with safener |
| 6 to 10 days | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Pendimethalin, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Imazosulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Pendimethalin, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Pretilachlor plus pyribenzoxim, Penoxsulam, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 11 to 20 days | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Pyribenzoxim, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 21 to 30 days | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Pyribenzoxim, Carfentrazone ethyl |
| 31 to 40 days | Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl | Not listed for direct seeded rice |
Spray Safely
Use only herbicides registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, and follow the label on the pack: the rate, the timing, the water and the protective clothing. Switch herbicide groups between seasons so the weeds do not learn to survive them. Our guide to herbicides for rice explains the groups.
Keep Eclipta zippeliana Out Next Season
- Plant clean, certified seed. Weed seeds mixed into the punla are the easiest way in.
- Keep the seedbed, the canals and the bunds free of weeds, so seed does not wash or blow into the paddy.
- Prepare the land well: flood, plow, let the weed seeds sprout, then kill them when you harrow. Level the field so water covers it evenly.
- Pull escapes before they flower and set seed, and carry them out of the paddy instead of leaving them on the bund.
- Keep the field clean after harvest and through the fallow, so fewer seeds build up in the soil for next season.
These steps work for every broadleaf weed in the paddy, not only this one. The weed management guide puts them in order for a whole season.
Not Sure It Is Eclipta zippeliana?
Take a clear photo of the leaf, the stem and the flower or seed head, then ask Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io, in Tagalog or English. Anee tells you which weed it most likely is, its group, and what to do at the age of your rice. You can also put the weeding days on your cropping calendar, so the team knows when to go in.
anee.io keeps your weeding, spraying and water on one calendar, and Anee answers when a plant looks wrong.
- Weeding days on the season calendar
- Photos and notes for every lot
- Anee, the smart farm technician, in Tagalog or English
Questions Farmers Ask About Eclipta zippeliana
What is Eclipta zippeliana called in the Philippines?
How do I control this kind of higis manok in my palay?
Does it matter if I mix it up with false daisy?
Get Eclipta zippeliana out of your field
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