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Agricultural extension requires close communication with farmers, and researchers must consider farmers’ perspectives on crop management. Farmers tend to take into account the canopy appearance when they decide on fertilizer application, and this is often neglected in crop management recommendations by researchers. Our objectives were to dissect the growth characteristics that farmers implicitly account for in nutrient management of tropical rice. Farmer participatory trials were conducted in irrigated and rainfed lowlands in the Philippines during the wet seasons of 2014, 2015, and 2016. Each year, 30 participating farmers made decisions on fertilizer management for plots with different seedling ages and planting densities. These treatments greatly changed the canopy appearance, and affected farmer decisions on nitrogen (N) management, particularly in the first year. We found that plant height and leaf …