Re: I Need Your Opinion

Posted by Gerald J. on September 15, 2006 at 17:04:31 from (67.0.103.92):

In Reply to: I Need Your Opinion posted by Allan In NE on September 15, 2006 at 15:34:05:

My forage books say its fine to cut the alfalfa after that killing frost, but it should have had weeks (as posted below) to store energy in the roots since the previous cutting to minimize winter kill.

What they don't say is what is cold enough to freeze alfalfa. One time I had three different alfalfas in my field, Wranger, Dart, and a third that I've forgotten. The Wrangler cost half the price of the Dart, but I was never able to find where I changed the drill from one to the other though I thought I knew were. They had the same growth habit, the same assortment of bloom colors and the same temperature (25 or 26 as I recall) killed the tops of both. They didn't get black, they just got a paler green color. The third variety didn't change color until a night of 22.

Since I had made a cutting just about 6 weeks before frost, there wasn't a lot of top to cut and I've not made any frost hay.

We get winter kill of good alfalfa crops from nasties like ice sheets and snow that gets converted to ice by almost thaws. Also get some from having the alfalfa ground bare with really cold prairie temperatures like 30 below.

I'd just as soon it didn't frost too soon, my beans were still really green the last I looked.

Gerald J.

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