Indian Jointvetch: How to Spot and Control It in Rice Fields
Indian jointvetch is a tall broadleaf weed of the bean family that grows in rainfed lowland rice fields across the Philippines. It can reach one meter, and its jointed pods leave plenty of seed behind. This page shows you how to spot it early, what harm it does to your palay, and how to control it before it seeds.
What Is Indian Jointvetch?
This damo belongs to the bean family, the same family as mungo and sitaw. Many Filipino farmers know it as makahiyang lalaki, since its feathery leaves with many small leaflets look a little like makahiya. Indian jointvetch shows up mostly in rainfed lowland rice fields, where the soil dries out between rains. It grows upright and sturdy, and the base of its stem turns woody as it ages.
As an annual, each plant lives for one season and then dies. But it does not leave empty handed, because it spreads by seed. Its pods break apart into small joints, and each joint carries one seed. So a single plant left standing until harvest can leave plenty of seed in the soil for the next crop. That is why the best time to act comes before the first pods form.
| Name | Indian jointvetch |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Aeschynomene indica |
| Family | Fabaceae |
| Weed group | Broadleaves (see the three groups) |
| Local names | Makahiyang lalaki |
| Life cycle | Annual |
| Spreads by | Seeds |
| Where it grows | Rainfed lowland rice fields |
How to Identify Indian Jointvetch
Look for an upright plant that can grow up to about one meter tall. The stem branches out and feels woody near the ground. Each leaf carries many narrow, oblong leaflets in pairs along a central stalk, with no single leaflet at the tip. It belongs to the broadleaf group, the plants with netted leaf veins, even if its leaflets are small. Small light yellow flowers appear among the leaves. Finally, check the pods: long, straight or curved, with four to eight ridged joints.
- Upright, sturdy plants up to one meter tall that stand out above low weeds.
- Branching stems that feel hard and woody near the base when you bend them.
- Leaves made of many small, narrow leaflets in pairs, with no leaflet at the tip.
- Small light yellow flowers tucked between the feathery leaves.
- Long pods, straight or curved, pinched into four to eight ridged joints.
Why It Hurts Your Palay
Indian jointvetch takes the same things your palay needs: light, water and fertilizer. Because it grows tall and branches wide, it can shade young rice and crowd the hills around it. If you leave it standing until harvest, its pod joints and seeds can get mixed with your grain. That lowers the quality of your harvest and carries the weed to the next field that uses the seed.
Thick stands also give rats, insects and other pests a place to hide close to the crop. In rainfed fields, the risk climbs during dry spells. With no standing water to hold them back, broadleaf weeds like this one sprout freely and race the rice for food.
How to Control Indian Jointvetch
- Pull or cut plants while they are still young and soft. Older plants turn woody at the base and get hard to pull by hand.
- Remove every plant before pods form. If some pods already hang on the plant, carry it out of the field so the joints do not drop seed.
- Keep water standing in the field after transplanting where you can. Fewer broadleaf seeds sprout under a steady flood than on moist, exposed soil.
- Clean your seed or use certified seed, since loose pod joints can ride along with the palay into the next season.
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 Indian jointvetch 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 Indian Jointvetch 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 Indian Jointvetch?
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 Indian Jointvetch
What is Indian jointvetch called in Tagalog?
How do I control this weed in my rice field?
Why does it keep coming back every season?
Get Indian Jointvetch out of your field
With Libre + Anee, read the whole guide: how to tell it from your crop, and what to do and spray at every age of your crop.
The account is free, no credit card.
