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April 11, 2008

Farmers being asked to help with survey

By Gary W. Micsky

The Penn State Crop Management Extension Group is asking local farmers who rent crop and pastureland to assist in a survey designed to benchmark land rent throughout Pennsylvania and its counties over time.  

Cash rental rates in Pennsylvania vary widely both between and within counties, and use of agricultural statistic data does not serve individual counties well in establishing economic benchmarks influenced by variables such as soil type, yield potential, field size, competition, and other local factors. This short survey should only take a few minutes of your time and will assist in identifying items you consider valuable in a rental agreement. 

You can access the survey at: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PVCdqb4GNDX_2fc252Mc3mQ_3d_3d

All responses are anonymous and will be used internally by the extension office to develop new economic tools and educational materials designed to assist producers in making business decisions based on local conditions.

Area forage producers are advised that now is a good time to evaluate alfalfa stands to determine if they should be rotated into corn. Dr. Marvin Hall, PSU forage specialist offers the following advice:

Established stands: The magic number of plants that traditionally indicated when it is time to rotate out of an established alfalfa stand is four to five plants per square foot. However, depending on fertility and weed invasion, alfalfa stands with our to five plants per square foot can yield as much as a stand with many more plants per square foot. The correlation between plants per square foot and yield is very low since individual alfalfa plants respond to decreasing stand density by producing more stems. Increased number of stems per plant compensates for fewer plants and maintains the yield. 

A better indicator of the productivity than the number of plants is the number of stems per square foot. Fields with 55 or more stems per square foot produce maximum yields. As the stem number declines below 55 per square foot yields begin to decline. Once stem numbers fall below 40 per square foot alfalfa fields begin to lose profitability and should be rotated out of alfalfa.

Alfalfa plantings made last fall or this spring: Plant density in new alfalfa seedings should be a minimum of 15 plants per square foot. This greater density is needed because the plants have not developed large crowns yet and will consequently have fewer stems per (directly related to yield) plant than older plants.

While you are inspecting your alfalfa stands, take time to monitor pressure from alfalfa weevil.

Weevil damage can have a big impact on first cut yield and plant health. If you see feeding damage and want to determine if they are approaching the “economic threshold,” collect an alfalfa stem from 30 spots in the field (total 30 stems) and place them upside down in a plastic bucket. 

Beat the stems, in groups of 10, against the bucket 15 times to dislodge the weevil larvae from the stems. Count the larvae and refer to economic threshold tables in “A Pest Management Program for Alfalfa in Pennsylvania.” This publication is available at the extension office. Info: 724-662-3141.



Gary W. Micsky is interim county extension director.

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