By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Farmers should carefully check their alfalfa fields to be sure winter weather didn’t cause damage, an agronomist said last week.

“They may just drive by, not see any damage, and think ‘I’m glad I didn’t have any winter kill,’” said Dave Robison, an agronomist and seed marketing manager with The CISCO Companies. “But if they walk out there, they may see something different.”

Robison said up to 75 percent of alfalfa fields in parts of Defiance, Hancock, Henry, Paulding and Putnam counties in northwestern Ohio could have some damage.

“A lot of folks could lose 25 percent of the stands they think are okay now,” he said. “It was a tough winter. We had winter kill on things that normally don’t have the problem.”

The winter weather and frosts into the second half of May have set back alfalfa harvest and will probably reduce yields, said Tim Dietz, research assistant with the department of crop and soil sciences at Michigan State University. The prime harvest time will be at least a week behind normal, which is usually around Memorial Day, he said.

“The weather has been a big issue,” he said. “When the snow melted, the ice melts into the low ground and it refreezes, damaging the alfalfa. It’s also evident in wheat as well.”

Farmers in Hancock County, Ohio, are concerned about possible damage to the alfalfa crop, said Gary Wilson, county extension educator for agriculture and natural resources.

“We just had way too much water this winter,” he said.
“Alfalfa can’t handle poor drainage. In great conditions, the alfalfa lasts five to six years at most. We’re taking a pretty good hit.”
About 25 percent of the county’s alfalfa fields three years or older have probably suffered severe damage, he said.

“That doesn’t sound high, but it is. We’ve got a situation in that we’ve lost some alfalfa. We knew the winter would be tough on it.”
Farmers who cut their alfalfa fields after the middle of September last year have seen their risk of damaged fields go up dramatically, Wilson said.

Heaving – the process in which freezing and thawing forces the alfalfa top root out of the ground – has also been a problem in some areas, Robison said. Poorly drained areas of a field are especially susceptible to problems, he added.

Farmers may also have to deal with an outbreak of alfalfa weevils once temperatures start to warm up, Robison explained.

“Alfalfa producers should check for the weevils,” he said. “We’ve heard some reports from southern Indiana, but we’re also hearing a lot more than we expected, given the cold, from northern Indiana.”