Gage County
1115 West Scott St.
Beatrice NE 68310
Phone: (402) 223-1384
FAX: (402) 223-1370

News Column

Paul C Hay, Extension Educator

Spring Crop Tips

March has come in like a lion. That already makes it more challenging to work with early spring seeded crops like oats and alfalfa.

OATS

- Ideally oats in our area need to be planted between March 1 and March 20. Later plantings are like to have tremendous increases in weed pressure and more damage from heat during bloom which reduces both yield and grain test weight. Oats are a multiple use crop in Southeast Nebraska. As many acres of oats are grown for forage and a short term cover crop as are grown for grain production. Oats should be planted about one inch deep in a firm seedbed. No-tilling them into stubble fields from2006 crops is ideal. Seeding rates of 90 to 120 pounds per acre are recommended.

Oats are sensitive to atrazine carryover so be careful of fields where high levels of atrazine was applied last year. This would be especially true if the field was low in organic matter, had a high pH level, and the weather since the atrazine application has been unusually dry. Oat varieties of choice for our area would include Jerry, Don, and Stallion. There are a number of good herbicide choices for oats including Aim, Curtail, Harmony, Peak, and 2,4-D Amine. The trick is to wait and then hurry. Oats must reach the three leaf stage before the application is made, after this time spray as soon as possible while weeds are small.

Oats cut for hay should be cut at boot stage or in the first few days after heading. After heading the tonnage will continue to go up through dough stage on the grain, but the quality of the forage goes down and the opportunity to have success with a summer crop following oats goes down also.

ALFALFA

Spring seeded alfalfa should be sown after April 1, but before April 20. Before April 1 there is concern that the alfalfa will emerge and be damaged by a temperatures below 25 degrees. The seedlings can handle a light frost like those which can occur in April. Sow alfalfa with a depth band drill at one-fourth inch depth. A firm seedbed is an important necessity for alfalfa. This small seed must have good seed to soil contact which is much easier to due in a no-till situation. Sowing into soybean stubble is the best choice, but corn and milo stalks are doable if the atrazine level is low enough. Alfalfa seed is more susceptible to atrazine than oats and also quite a bit more expensive. Seeding rates should be 12-15 pounds per acre and it is preferred to sow alfalfa without any companion or nurse seed (competitor).

There are three classes of alfalfa seed. Choose varieties which are in the class which fits your needs. Common seed is seed harvested by grows from various backgrounds. Parentage is not guaranteed and highly variable. Likely use would be CRP, wildlife and other planting where minimum seed cost is important. Brands or blends is seed blends offered by seed companies. Thsese blends are seed mixes of recently released varieties. This is moderate cost seed and quite useful for beef cow producers or others where quality and performance takes a seat behind crop production and other farm duties. Pureline varieties are the highest price seed and would be the choice where quality and performance are important.

There are good herbicide options like Poast, Pursuit, and Raptor which give excellent control of grasses and help with broadleaf weeds. Mowing the hay will finish the job on broadleaves.

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