Air March 23, 2005

Thank you Jerry, and good morning everyone. Well, last week I was asking for some precipitation. Miraculously, Mother Nature came through for us, although I think those little calves may not have appreciated it as much as we all did!

We talked about alfalfa last week in regards to possible cutworm damage. I wanted to follow through with some other thoughts on alfalfa management this morning. For starters, the last week or two has really brought the alfalfa along and we've got some good growth starting in those fields. With warmer springtime temperatures coming along we can expect some rapid growth with the good moisture we've had this winter. We can also expect some alfalfa weevil along with that. You need to be aware of your weevil risk rating. If you have a lot of old stems from last year still in your field, then you have a high weevil risk rating. The female weevil lays her eggs in those old stems both last winter and even this spring. These fields will have heavy weevil pressure and will need to be monitored closely. If you removed those old stems after frost last fall either by haying, mowing or grazing, you will have a much lower risk, but you certainly aren't risk free. You may still need to treat, but probably not as soon. But the damage from heavy weevil infestations can haunt you will after the weevil are gone. So don't wait until you can see the damage from the pickup as you drive down the road. Get out and walk those fields every 4 to 5 days, and more often after you start to find signs of weevil damage. Shifting to alfalfa soil fertility now, I often am asked why an application of phosphorus fertilizer didn't seem to increase yield. Well, there's probably as many different answers as there are fields where this happened. Sometimes it may be because the pH has gotten too low or was never raised prior to planting. A quick soil test can answer that for us. Basically, as pH drops below 6, the effectiveness of nitrogen fixing bacteria AND the availability of soil phosphorus to the plant, both start to drop rapidly. Or the problem could be age of the stand, some other nutrient deficiency or simply not enough rainfall. But if you've had this problem, call me so we can find an answer!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2005.

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