Reminders and Tips for Successful Forage Crop Establishment

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The precautions you take to foster the establishment of your forage crop can go a long way to ensuring you reap the rewards of your investment of time and money, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) Forage Conversion Specialist André Bonneau. It is often a matter of dosage.

“For instance, cover crops are not necessary for good forage crop establishment, but are often used because they provide a cash return, hay or pasture and weed suppression. During establishment, some forage crops can compete better than others with cover crops. Wheat grasses, brome grasses, alfalfa and sweet clover are reasonably competitive under normal conditions. Russian wild rye, bird's foot trefoil and sainfoin are less competitive, and should be seeded only on clean land without a cover crop.”

If you use a cover crop, Bonneau advises reducing the normal seeding rate by 50 per cent to reduce competition.

“Quite often, seeding the cover crop at 50 per cent of normal will not drastically reduce the yield of the cover crop for greenfeed," he explains. "Seed both crops at right angles, if possible. This takes two operations, which many producers do not like, but it does ensure the forage crop can be seeded shallowly, and avoids direct competition with the cover crop within the rows."

Seed the cover crop first. If you are seeding fluffy grasses that do not flow well through your seeder, consider adding up to 20 lb. of actual high phosphate fertilizer per acre in a six-inch row spacing. However, avoid contact between nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and the seed. In a grass/alfalfa mixture, mix the alfalfa seed and the fertilizer immediately before seeding. Increase the recommended alfalfa inoculant rate before seeding and use a sticker solution. Consider re-inoculating pre-inoculated seed before mixing it with fertilizer.

Herbicide residues are another factor to consider.

“Most herbicides—if applied properly—do not affect the development of the crops that follow," he says. "There are a few herbicides that leave residues in the soil and which carry recropping restrictions.”

More information on herbicide re-cropping restrictions is available in the 2006 Guide to Crop Protection published by SAF, which may be downloaded from the SAF website at: http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/docs/crops/cropguide00.asp

For more information, contact:

André Bonneau
Forage Conversion Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
1-866-457-2377 (toll free)