At 10:14 AM 6/4/2003 -0400, Jim wrote:
Something in your management of those fields is allowing the Marion to
throw some seed evidently. Standard recommendation is to let it grow
ungrazed for 30 days before the season ending killing frost to allow it to
set seed. If you think you might want to plant annual lespedeza again,
there is a new variety out now called Legend that is supposed to yield
about a third more than Marion. It is a taller plant, about 6 to 8 inches
taller than Marion. A website for Legend is:
http://www.cutting-edgeproducts.com/legend.html
Thanks for the lead on Legend, Jim. I had a hard time locating some Marion
seed when I planted it - had to make a 2-hr trip to meet a MO seed producer
who was delivering a load to a cattleman's association meeting in far
western KY, to get it. None of the local seed suppliers had it or would go
to the trouble of getting it for me.
I do try to manage grazing on this area to ensure seedset on the lespedeza
- try to pull the cows off of that pasture around 1 September to allow the
lespedeza to go to seed, as well as to allow some stockpiling of the fescue
for late winter grazing. However, in the year I planted it, we had severe
drought conditions, and I could not remove the cows from that area -
actually, I ended up allowing continuous grazing of virtually the entire
farm just to keep the cows alive - and had to start feeding hay in late
September. Despite continuous grazing, Marion still set seed and came back
even stronger the next year.
I really like annual lespedeza as a component of my sward - most of its
production is during the hot part of the summer when the fescue stalls out
- and, it helps dilute out some of the effects of fescue endophyte in those
pastures that have not yet been renovated.
Lucky
