Minnesota Crop News

While the first part of that title may have been true when trying to control powdery and downy mildew with Bordeaux mixture in wine grapes, it is no longer the case when controlling small grain diseases with the current systemic fungicides. When does adding a fungicide to your herbicide program in small grains make sense? The simplest answer is “ Only when you have found disease in your field or have insufferable early-season disease risk ”.  Adding fungicides in the absence of a disease does not buy you anything other than risking crop injury, as certain fungicide formulations may ‘heat up’ specific herbicides. It is therefore important to read the label restrictions on the herbicides and fungicides you plan to use. What about yield? This past winter, Dr. Andrew Friskop, NDSU Extension Plant Pathologist, summarized 16 years of fungicide timing trials across North Dakota (Figure 1). One of the questions he wanted to answer was when it made sense to make an early-season fung...

Jackie Estrem, UMN Extension Educator- Sustainable Agriculture, Stearns, Benton, Morrison, &  Sherburne Counties, and Taylor Herbert, UMN Extension Educator- Crops, Wright, McLeod, & Meeker Counties Well this is it! The last Alfalfa Harvest Alert for the 2025 season. The last round of samples were  taken on the 26th and 27th of May and all but one cooperating farm has harvested as of today. In comparison to last year, warm conditions at the beginning of this season kick-started rapid growth in alfalfa plants. Similarly, rain and cool weather delayed harvest in some fields although alfalfa weevil pressure was much reduced compared to last year.  Overall, we saw an early window for alfalfa harvest for some farms before rain delays. In the coming weeks, farms should still scout for alfalfa weevil feeding in regrowth, especially in windrows, even though winter conditions may have caused more mortality in than previous years. For more info on alfalf...

By Liz Stahl, Extension Educator – Crops, Anthony Hanson, Extension Educator – Integrated Pest Management, and Troy Salzer, Extension Educator – Ag Production Systems Forage pests, the status of the forage crop, and pasture management were topics of discussion on the May 28 University of Minnesota Extension Strategic Farming: Field Notes program. Anthony Hanson, UMN Extension Educator in Integrated Pest Management, and Troy Salzer, UMN Extension Educator – Ag Production Systems, discussed these issues and more, with moderator UMN Extension Crops Educator, Dave Nicolai. Status of the alfalfa crop Although there was enough snow cover in parts of northern MN this past winter, overall, we didn’t have a lot of snow cover over much of the state. Times of little snow cover often correlated to our coldest spells, resulting in some alfalfa winter kill, especially with older stands. Considering these factors, some fields might be looking a little rough this spring. Be sure to evaluate stands,...