Alfalfa
BY JIM MARTINDALE
North Country
Ag-Gro Consulting
CARTHAGE, N.Y. - By now
virtually everyone has observed
the appetite of the alfalfa weevil
for 1985. The extent of the losses
probably won’t be fully known until
the forage is fed and the analysis
comes back to confirm the
devastation these pests cause.
Scouting fields reveals patterns
of feeding which correlate with
several cultural practices in
alfalfa production. The first pat
tern which everyone recognizes is
that alfalfa weevils first attack
alfalfa which is under the most
severe stress within a given field.
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weevil attacks plants under stress
Scouting nearly always yields the
largest larvae counts where soils
are highest and driest. These
plants typically suffer greater
drought stress than plants in lower
areas. Alfalfa plants, which
evaporate 858 lbs. of water per lb of
dry matter produced in above
ground foliage, can encounter
drought stress quite easily.
Other patterns began to emerge
as scouting proceeded. In the
Lewis and Jefferson County areas,
there are widely differing
recommendations and practices
concerning the treatment of soils
for potash, boron and copper
deficiencies. Experience has
shown trace mineral levels to be
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sufficiently low to require ad
ditions of up to eight pounds per
year of boron and copper for
alfalfa. Soils treated at these rates
become significantly altered from
the average in only a few seasons.
Fields with higher levels of
boron and copper began to ex
perience weevil feeding as did
most other fields. However, in as
little as one week after 20-25 larvae
were found per 5 sweeps, feeding
declined to near zero. Then, 14
days later after the initial
scouting, no feeding was observed.
The previous injury was then
apparent, now several inches
below the top growth of the plants.
The impact of nutritional stress
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is also influenced by ine ability of
the plant to access nutrients in the
soil. A vivid example of how this
occurs in soil was illustrated by a
seemingly innocent set of
wheeltracks made by a tractor
over 1 year ago in a neighboring
alfalfa field. The farmer had
inadvertently driven into an alfalfa
field with his manure spreader
In order to minimize his dilemma,
he drove diagonally across the
he drove diagonally across the
field down the slope toward the
edge of the field to exit onto the
main highway.
This year those wheel tracks
stood out, because of the high
feeding rate of the alfalfa weevil.
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Those plants were under stress.
Since only the wheel-tracks were
attacked, we could conclude that
the compaction had introduced the
stress. Since feeding continued
down the slope it seems logical that
moisture was not the stress factor.
The stress which these plants were
under was the absence of a feeder
root system. It could not develop
adequately during 1984 because the
soil around the top six to eight
inches of the plants was too tightly
compacted with the wheeltrack.
That seemingly isolated and
small incident helps explain why
farmers who have been using the
soil aerator and high level fertility
practices experienced consistently
less weevil pressure in their alfalfa
stands this year.
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