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Southwest Michigan | My original plan was to seed alfalfa with orchard grass in the wheat stubble next fall. I've done this for the last two years (oldhay-wheat-fall seeding) and previous fields turned out great. I do use oats as a carrier for the grass seed, as the alfalfa goes in the little box on the drill. Oats serve as a nurse crop and are winter killed. I have done this in the spring but my chances of losing the small grass seedlings to dry weather is much higher.
I have seeded beans into hay sod twice before and had poor but not catastrophic stands. Always killed hay after 3rd cutting. I figured after the 2nd poor bean stand that excessive insect pest pressure was to blame, but couldn't pin down the exact pest. Now I know. Those previous bean plantings were 140k untreated early may plantings. Knowing now that chafer is more of a grass eating pest, and seeing the difference in damage levels, that changes my plan. There honestly isn't going to be enough wheat left to attempt to hay in. I'll terminate it as early as I can in the spring and plant 200k pop treated beans in mid to late may. The seed treatment guarantees me replant if things get bad. Then spring seed pure alfalfa in early '27. That will have it out of grass crops for a couple years and in late 27 or 28 I'll inter seed my grass. No spring risk to grass seed that way.
In the future, I'll have to terminate hay fields in early June, right after first cutting. That should limit egg laying and reduce pressure on the following rotational crop. I might attempt to scout for larve with a spade before wheat in dead hay | |
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Lost Wheat seeding to European Chafer
