How to add $75 value to new alfalfa seedings
OLEY Getting control of
potato leafhopper in your
newly seeded alfalfa this
spring could return almost
four times the cost of con
trol. There’s a relatively new
way of getting control which
has a lot of alfalfa producers
who’ve tried it excited.
The system calls for ap
plication of a systemic
insecticide for leafhopper
right at seeding time - which
means farmers won’t have
I 1
With up to five cuttings per season on his alfalfa,
Eugene Moser, Oley, is especially concerned about
new stand establishment. It’s the key to high pro
duction, he feels.
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to go back over delicate new
stands with a sprayer
Presently only one in
secticide, Furadan, is
registered for this ap
plication.
“For insect control you
have to get the spray on
when the problem occurs,”
points out Penn State
Agronomist Bill McClellan.
“A trip with a sprayer will
often leave wheel tracks in
newly seeded alfalfa that
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Lancaster, PA 17601
Phone (717) 299-1706
will be there for the four or
five year life of that stand.
“And I personally hate to
go over a new alfalfa stand
with a sprayer,” McClellan
adds “So the seeding time
treatment offers an alter
native.”
Studies in Pennsylvania
show roughly 0.35 ton extra
■alfalfa yield on new cuttings
treated at planting time for
leafhopper. Other tests
showed sharply higher
results, up to near three
quarter ton.
“That will add up to about
$75 extra return in the first
year. The value of pure
alfalfa in the first year is
about $B5 per ton, with an
average of two to three
cuttings in the first year,” ■
FMC Northeastern Service
Director Sue Wendler says.
Plus, the cost of the in
secticide application is
almost saved by reduced
seeding rates, she points out.
“At seed prices today, the
savings will be about $l6 or
more, since the seeding rate
can usually be cut in half.”
But what if the leafhopper
doesn’t show up?
“In some parts of the state
nine years out of ten you can
expect leafhopper,” points
out Stan Gesell, Penn State
Extension entomologist.
Generally the hottest area
is here in the south central
part of Pennsylvania. The
new seeding practice is also
recently registered for use m
Maryland alfalfa.
“Leafhopper can almost
kill a stand, so if I were a
grower m that area I know
what I’d do,” Gesell says.
(Turn to Page C2O)
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Leafhopper control can be a key part of establishing new alfalfa stands, con
tends Ross Orner, Jr., Rockton.
Wam-Ui
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