HONESDALE (Wayne Co.) The
question of fall fertilization of forage
crops is most often related to concerns
about winter survival of perennial
forages.
While fall fertilization can have an
impact on winter survival there are
many other factors that influence
winter survival, including the overall
nutritional management of the crop,
harvest practices throughout the year,
weather conditions, and varieties just
to name a few.
The following is a focus only on the
nutritional factors.
For new seedings the key to winter
survival is to have a healthy, well
established plant going into the first
winter. Having soil test levels at least
in the optimum range for pH, pho
sphorus, and potassium before estab
ishment is critical. While all of these
fertility factors are important, it has
been shown that good levels of pho
sphorus will promote vigorous root
growth in the new seeding. A larger,
more well established root system will
be more resistant to heaving, which is
a major cause of winter stand loss,
especially in new seedings. A fall
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Fall Fertilization Of Forage Crops
application of fertilizer to a new seed
ing cannot make up for the lack of
good fertility at planting and resulting
small root system.
Once a forage crop is established,
the fertility program should focus on
maintenance of good fertility levels in
the soil for the life of the forage stand.
The most important part of the mainte
nance program is regular soil testing
to determine the need for lime, pho
sphorus, or potassium to replace the
large amount of nutrients removed in
the forage. On grasses nitrogen will
also be an important part of the main
tenance fertility program. For legumes
and grasses, potassium seems to be the
most critical nutrient for winter survi
val. Potassium, being a salt, lowers the
freezing point of cells just like apply
ing salt to a road lowers the tempera
ture where the water on the road will
freeze. Also, potassium influences the
levels of soluble sugars in the cell sap.
These sugars act as an antifreeze in the
plant cells enabling them to withstand
lower temperatures without freeziung.
The timing of phosphorus and
potassium applications for foragesa
will depend on the situation. When the
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Foraging Around, Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, November 1, 1997—Page
soil test levels are in the optimum
range and the recommendations are
low, the timing of fertilizer applica
tion is not critical. These low recom
mendations on an optimum testing
soil are only to replace what the crop
will remove so that the test level is still
in the optimum range going into the
following eason. Fertilizer can be
applied after one of the cuttings or in
the fall.'There will be no advantage to
splitting the fertilizer application in
this situation. Given a choice betwen
applying the fertilizer during the sea
son or in the fall, fall application may
provide a very slight insurance effect,
but this is not a major consideration.
Where high rates of fertilizer are
recommended there may be an advan
tage to splitting the application some
after first cutting and the balance in
the fall. Many plants will take up
potassium whether they need it or not.
This is called luxury consumption. If
all of the fertilizer is applied at one
time, the next cutting may take up
more than it needs leaving the crop
short later on. By splitting the applica
tions the efficiency of potassium use
will be improved because there will be
less luxury consumption. Also, as
noted before, if the soil test levels are
low enough to result in a large recotn
menation, particularly for potassium,
applying some of the fertilizer in the
fall before the plants are dormant may
improve winter survival.
On forage grasses nitrogen is
another consideration. Nitrogen
should be applied to grasses in the
spring and after each cutting, except
the last cutting in the fall. The rate
should be based on the expected yield
of the following cutting. Applying nit
rogen in the fall for use by the crop the
following spring is not recommended.
Another important consideration for
nitrogen fertilization of grasses is the
balance between nitrogen and potas
sium. Nitrogen applied in the fall on
soils with low potassium levels can
increase winter kill of grasses over
where no fertilizer is applied. Thus,
soil tsting and applying a balanced fer
tility program is important.
There are no special considerations
for nutrient sources used for fall fertil
ization of forages. All of the standard
fertilizer materials are acceptable.
Manure is also a source of nutrients.
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197
The phosphorus and
potassium in manure
can be considered
equivalent to fertilizer
phosphorus' and
potassium in their
efect for building soil
fertility. The availa
bility of nitrogen will
range form 20 to 50%
depending on how
soon alter application
it is soaked into the
soil by rainfall. The
sooner it gets rain the
better. Manure is not
generally recom
mended for legumes
because the nitrogen
in the manure is
wasted and ther is the
potential for some
adverse effects from
manure application to
legumes. If manure
must be applied to a
legume, fall is prob
ably the best time to
apply it to minimize
the potential negative
effects.
While having good
fertility levels for a
forage crop in the fall
is critical for optimum
production, fall fertil
ization is only one
part of the manage
ment system to
achieve this. Opti
mum soil test levels
should bife-established
prior to seeding and a
maintenance fertiliza
tion program based on
regular soil testing are
the foundation of
good nutrient man
agement of forages.
Douglas Beegle
Penn State Agro-
nomist