News

Agronomist urges farmers to check alfalfa stands

A Wisconsin agronomist is telling farmers to take a closer look at their alfalfa fields.

Rodney Erdman is an agronomist for Pioneer in south-eastern and south-central Wisconsin. He says, “I’ve been digging a few alfalfa plants out and have been noticing a little bit more crown rot that I’d really like to see.”

Erdman tells Brownfield farmers should take a spade out and dig up half a dozen plants from different places in the field. “Take your knife and split the root in half and just kind of see what’s going on. The real healthy ones are a milky, chalky white color and you’ll see right away. On the top, it’s just kind of goes into a ‘V’ as it goes down into the root if you’ve got any of that rot going on.”

And, he says the age of the alfalfa stand doesn’t matter. “I’ve been finding it doesn’t seem to be on the are of the stand, either. It’s been mostly two-year-olds that I’ve been seeing, but I’ve seen some on just one-year-old stands.”

Erdman says if crown rot is widespread, most farmers in his region will choose to harvest a first crop and then plant the field to short-season corn for silage.

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!