Alfalfa after a drought: What now?

August is a month when many producers will choose to plant new alfalfa seedings. While alfalfa can be planted in spring or late summer/early fall, many decide on a fall planting to follow wheat harvest to take advantage of a time period when weeds are less of a challenge to the new stand.

This year seedings were made with an anticipation of rain, which didn’t come until this week. The lack of rain prevented germination of the seed or limited the growth of the young seedlings.

As I have surveyed the county, producers may find themselves in one of two situations. The first is they drilled their seed, which emerged, but plant growth was limited and is well behind what they had hoped for. The second is they broadcast the seed, and it picked up enough moisture from dew or a brief shower to begin germination, but the seed died, leaving a field of just weeds. So what are your options moving forward?

Let’s first discuss those drilled fields where we have some young and/or stunted plants. The true impact of the drought will not be known until next year. We hope the recent rains have helped and will continue to help these stands moving forward. Ideally, the weather will cooperate, and they can produce enough growth to develop the reserves to overwinter and regrow once we reach spring.

Producers should plan to take early-season stand counts to see what survived the winter. Your target should be about 55 stems or four to five plants per square foot. After you have counted four to five locations in a field, if you determine you are at 40 stems or fewer, you can consider thickening the stand with a spring planting.

The autotoxicity effect of older alfalfa isn’t a concern with a stand one year old or younger. You can drill in additional seed to thicken the stand. You will want to delay the first harvest until about 60 days post-replant to give the new young plants a chance to establish. Then you can get on your normal harvest schedule.

For those stands that were broadcast planted and are a complete stand failure, you have a couple of decisions to make. There is still time to change plans and plant a small grain for spring forage harvest. As we progress through October, you should plan to apply 25 pounds of nitrogen per acre to encourage tiller development before the plants enter their winter dormancy period.

If you want to replant the field to alfalfa, you will need to focus on a spring planting. I would encourage you to address any weed issues that have occurred. A fall herbicide program doesn’t need to be overly complicated or expensive. A simple tank mix of glyphosate and 2,4D will address most fall annuals. You will need to make a spring herbicide application to address the new flush of spring annuals that will occur. Weed control is the most important investment you can make to ensure a productive, long-lived alfalfa stand.

There are several herbicide options. As always, I would encourage you to carefully read the product labels to make sure you are applying the product at the proper alfalfa growth stage, as all have their own limitations. Eptam and Treflan are both effective on most grass species and some broadleaf species. They are intended to be applied preplant and incorporated prior to alfalfa planting. Once alfalfa has emerged, Buctrill and Butyrac can be applied to control broadleaf weeds before alfalfa exceeds 2 inches in height. Poast Plus and Select will suppress annual grass species.

As we move through October, there are a couple of programs I would like to bring to your attention. The Wayne County Farm Bureau will host its annual fall farm tour. This year’s tour will feature farms and agriculture-related businesses in the southeast quadrant of Wayne County and will be held Oct. 11 and 12. The tour is free, and participants will get to tour the facilities, and each stop will have food trucks and other displays for your enjoyment.

On Oct. 18 we will host a small ruminant field day at the OSU Small Ruminant Research Center on Fredericksburg Road. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the cost is $10, which includes lunch. Participants will hear presentations and participate in demonstrations covering newborn management, birthing difficulties, estrus synchronization, estimating standing forage yield and dry matter, and developing a flock nutrition program. We ask that you register by Oct. 16.

I also will remind you that Frank and I are producing a quarterly ag newsletter. The most recent edition was sent out Oct. 1. The newsletter features a list of our upcoming programs, has some timely educational articles and includes the newest fact sheets for OSU Extension on a variety of agriculture-related topics. If you would like to receive our newsletter, you can contact our office to be added to the list.

As always, I hope you have a safe and profitable harvest season. If you have any questions or would like to register for one of our upcoming programs, reach out to me at the Wayne County OSU Extension at 330-264-8722 or email me at yost.77@osu.edu.