Air April 19, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. Soil temperature update for this week shows a slight improvement at Manhattan. The average is up another degree to 53 with a weekly high of 56.5 and a low of 50. I would normally have expected more of a jump in one week, but with a few cold days over the weekend, it kind of slowed things down just a little bit! This information, as well as soil temperature information all across the state is available on Extension’s Web site. Give me a call for the address.

Spent a bit of time the last week scouting alfalfa fields and native pastures. If you are thinking that we are about out of time to burn, you’re wrong. As long as you can still carry a fire through that pasture, you can still burn, at least for another week or two anyway. We are starting to get some good growth on those desirable warm season grasses, but not too much yet.

I was pleasantly surprised at what I was finding in alfalfa fields the past few days. Yes, I was finding alfalfa weevils and aphids, but not nearly as many as I thought I might find. We started seeing the first weevil larvae in late March and I really figured we’d be spraying everything by now. But not a single field that I have been in yet, has needed spraying. The one unsettling fact was that I was still finding adults so they are probably still out there laying eggs. We need to keep an eye on both the weevils and aphids though. Both could still explode on us. The alfalfa is growing real good right now and I can start to find flower buds if I look close. We’re still a week or two away from cutting, but that’s enough time for there to be serious trouble if we don’t stay on top of this. Alfalfa at 8 to 10 inches can tolerate about 1½ larvae per stem before we need to spray. By the time the alfalfa gets up to about 17 inches in height it can tolerate 2per stem. If you do need to spray, be sure to watch those pre-harvest intervals. Several of the newer products give very good, very fast control and still allow you to harvest in just one week. These newer products also give very good aphid and leafhopper control. If you remember last year, we had a lot of problems with those potato leafhoppers. No reason to expect we won’t see that again either!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page