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Upper Midwest alfalfa off to a slow start

An agronomist says the first crop of alfalfa is not what many farmers were hoping for. 

Jon Zuk with Winfield United tells Brownfield the cooler-than-normal weather and pests are why. “And that might contribute to some advantages to the alfalfa weevil as far as just starting to skeletonize some of those early stems and not letting that alfalfa get off to a great start.”

Zuk says there are many methods for scouting weevils.  He prefers to cut some stems and count larvae. “I typically say less than one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half weevils per stem, and that’s very few. I like to be more aggressive than that, especially in a lot of cases, but that’s a general recommendation.”

And Zuk says cutting the first crop helps reduce weevil damage now, but the risk for additional crop damage later remains. “We’re starting to see weevils. Really watch out there, especially after first cutting. That’s where they can be a real detriment to that second-cutting regrowth.”

Zuk works with farmers in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.