Makahiya: How to Spot and Control It in Rice Fields
Makahiya is the low, thorny shrub whose leaves fold shut the moment you touch them. It looks harmless, but in the bukid it is a weed of rainfed lowland rice fields in the Philippines. This page shows you how to spot it among the palay, handle its spines safely, and control it before it seeds.
What Is Makahiya?
Makahiya is the sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica, from the Mimosaceae family. Farmers also know it as Bain bain, hibi hibi, huya huya, kipi kipi and makahiyang babae. That last name sets it apart from its bigger, spinier cousin, the giant sensitive plant. Since it is a broadleaf weed, it is not a grass or a sedge.
You will see it in rainfed lowland rice fields, where the soil is not always flooded. As a perennial, one plant can live on for more than one season. Seed is how it spreads. Each plant makes many flat, slightly curved pods, and the seeds fall around it. Its stems branch low or trail along the ground, so a few plants can soon form a spiny mat.
| Name | Makahiya |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Mimosa pudica |
| Family | Mimosaceae |
| Weed group | Broadleaves (see the three groups) |
| Local names | Bain bain, hibi hibi, huya huya, kipi kipi, makahiya, makahiyang babae |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Spreads by | Seeds |
| Where it grows | Rainfed lowland rice fields |
How to Identify Makahiya
The easiest test is to touch it, because the leaves fold up right away. Look for a low, branched shrub that trails or stands upright, with reddish brown stems carrying scattered spines. Each leaf stalk ends in a few leaflet branches spread like fingers, each with many narrow leaflets. Like other broadleaf weeds, its leaflets have netted veins, unlike grasses and sedges. The flowers are pink to purple, and the pods are flat, slightly curved and many.
- Leaves that fold shut within seconds when you touch or brush them.
- Low, branched stems that trail along the ground or stand upright.
- Reddish brown stems with scattered spines that prick bare hands.
- Leaflet branches spread like fingers at the tip of each leaf stalk.
- Pink to purple flowers, followed by many flat, slightly curved pods.
- Look alike tip: the giant sensitive plant is bigger, much spinier, with 4 to 8 pairs of leaf branches.
Why It Hurts Your Palay
This weed may look small and harmless, but it takes water, fertilizer and space from your palay. Its trailing, branched stems spread low and form a mat between the rice hills. In rainfed fields, where water can run short, every bit of moisture counts.
The spines cause trouble too. They prick the hands and legs of farmers who weed, transplant or harvest near it, so people tend to skip those patches. As a result, the weed grows unchecked. Because it is a perennial, it can stay in the field and on the bunds season after season. Each plant also makes many pods that fill the soil with seed.
How to Control Makahiya
- Wear gloves when you pull it, because the stems carry spines that prick and scratch bare hands.
- Pull or dig out plants with their roots before the pink flowers turn into pods, so no new seed drops.
- Clear it from bunds and field edges too, since this perennial survives there between croppings and spreads 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 makahiya 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 Makahiya 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 Makahiya?
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 Makahiya
What is makahiya called in other Philippine languages?
How do I control it in my rice field?
Why do its leaves close when touched?
Get Makahiya 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.
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