By late June or early July, the seedlings in the dry-bed nurseries are ready for transplanting into the wet-rice terraces. The seedlings, which the Palokhi Karen call by their own term, by pho (“little rice [plant]”) or ta ka, the same Northern Thai term for nursery, have to be removed first from the nurseries and this is usually done by households on an individual basis in preparation for transplanting when other households come to assist in the task on a co-operative labour exchange basis. Removing the seedlings is called thae’ ta ka, “clearing the ta ka”, and it entails careful uprooting of the seedlings from the nursery bed so as not to damage the roots. The seedlings are tied in bundles with bamboo withes, each about the size of a handful, and the bundles are then stacked by the field hut ready for the work team to plant which is usually done on the following day. The planting of seedlings is called su by, an entirely Karen term. The organisation of labour for planting the seedlings is similar to that in the planting of swiddens, that is, all households contribute their labour, which is then reciprocated when it is their turn to transplant their seedlings. As with swiddening, planting in wet-rice fields is extremely labour intensive for the same reasons, namely, the necessity to get as much done over a large area in a short period of time, hence the large work teams. After the first day of planting, the work teams move on to other fields, until all the fields have been planted. It is not uncommon, of course, for households to find that not all of their terraces have been planted on the first day, and so smaller teams are formed to carry out the work of planting that remains.

The task of planting itself requires first the trimming of the seedlings to about 30 to 35 cm in length. The reason for this practice is that with the reduced height of the seedlings, they are less likely to topple over while they are still taking root in the terrace beds. The seedlings are trimmed in bundles with a bush knife and they are cast into the terraces where they float around. The work teams enter the terraces and pick them up and plant them directly using their fingers to protect the roots as they are inserted into the terrace beds. The seedlings are planted about 20 cm apart in an irregular fashion unlike some Northern Thai cultivators who attempt to plant seedlings in straight rows.

The planting of wet-rice is, in so far as its ritual aspects are concerned, modelled on what takes place in swiddens but only to a limited extent. There is, for instance, a small crop of “Old Mother Rice” that is planted which is the focus of planting rites. It is significant that the “Old Mother Rice” in Palokhi fields are protected, at the time of planting, by “hawks’ eyes” (taa liaw, a Northern Thai term) which is a typically Northern Thai agricultural practice (see Davis [1984:160, 292]). The “planting of the ritual basket of the yam” which characterises swidden planting is not, significantly, carried out in wet-rice fields. The prayers that are said when wet-rice is planted, however, are the same as those said in swidden planting and are addressed to the “Lord of the Water, Lord of the Land”. The work teams on the first day of planting are also offered food at mid-day, as in swidden planting.

After the swiddens have been planted, the wet-rice fields are fenced to keep out cattle and buffaloes. This work is done solely on a household basis.