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| Photo credit: University of Minnesota |
By Jackie Estrem, UMN Extension Educator-Sustainable Agriculture, Stearns, Benton, Morrison, & Sherburne Counties, and Taylor Herbert, UMN Extension Educator-Crops, Wright, McLeod, & Meeker Counties
For today’s report we finally have results from some of our northern cooperators! 13 of the 16 cooperators have submitted samples so far this year. Fields in Stearns, Benton, and Morrison Counties reached 14-15 inches on Monday. Alfalfa growth among the rest of the sampled fields remained steady with most gaining 3 to 4 inches over the weekend. One cooperator reported lodging after rain and high winds in some fields to the south but for the most part fields remain standing. There have been no reports of any insect feeding yet and all fields have grown through the minor frost damage we observed last week. Moisture over the weekend and more in the forecast later this week should help maintain strong stands coming into Memorial Day weekend.
Please remember to take a moment to fill out the alfalfa pest needs assessment survey at z.umn.edu/alfalfapestsurvey. This online survey lets you voice what issues you are seeing in the field first-hand for alfalfa pests. Participating in the survey will help determine what areas of Minnesota and surrounding states have had increased issues with insect outbreaks and direct future alfalfa educational programming and research.
The goal of the Alfalfa Harvest Alert program is to alert growers to start the first cut of alfalfa when the crop is at a level of quality and yield potential that meets their specific needs. As a reminder, the goal is not to try and name the exact day of harvest. Rather the goal is to encourage growers who are busy with management of other crops to be more strategic with hay crop harvest as it relates to their needs.
How to get harvest alert data
The May 19th Alfalfa Harvest Alert data is available as a pdf. However, there is also a tool that contains this year’s data and all the data from every county and farm that has participated in the Alfalfa Harvest Alert Program since 1997. As an added bonus, this year we are also including data from University of Wisconsin Madison Extension! Go to z.umn.edu/AlfalfaHarvestAlert to view the data. You can also get the most recent information through email by signing up at z.umn.edu/QuadCountySignup and clicking the "Alfalfa Scissor-Cut and Harvest Alert" box.Contact information
If you have any questions, please contact Jackie Estrem, UMN Extension Educator- Sustainable Agriculture, Stearns, Benton, Morrison, & Sherburne Counties at estre060@umn.edu, (763)-515-1023, or Taylor Herbert, UMN Extension Educator- Crops, Wright, McLeod, & Meeker Counties at therbert@umn.edu, (612)-394-5229
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