This year, Kitchen Seed Company has added a new alfalfa variety to their line-up, FSG 421 Leaf Hopper Resistant Alfalfa. This alfalfa is beneficial because the plant produces a glandular hair that is not attractive to the leaf hopper. Leaf hoppers feed on alfalfa plants, when this happens, it stunts the growth and reduces the yield. This field was planted in September of 2019.
The following is a picture of one of our customers existing alfalfa stand. According to our seed specialist, alfalfa cuttings are running 10 days to 2 weeks behind schedule due to the cold weather that Central Illinois has been experiencing.
Below, is a picture of a customer’s triticale stand in Shelby County. This customer planted their triticale late fall in 2019. This particular customer will be using their triticale stand to feed their cattle. The benefit of using triticale is that this customer will be able to cut this stand around the end of May. After the cutting, the customer plans to plant soybeans for production in this same field.
The pictures included are Kitchen Seed Company Seed Wheat Fields in Champaign County. The growing rate is right on time, the temperatures that Central Illinois has been experiencing has not slowed down the growing of this resilient wheat stand.
The spring of 2018 is going to be one to remember for sure. With late winter and early spring snows and heavy rains it has delayed planting across central Illinois. But, we are not behind as some might think. Sure the insurance date has come and went but that doesn’t mean that is the green flag to go. The ground temperature has been a common discussion here at our office. Sure our hybrids are more resistant to colder ground temperatures but that is still stress on the seed for germination. We need to be looking for ground temps above 50 degrees and depending on your location you could be seeing that. However around Arthur and surrounding area’s we haven’t reached that. Here is a log for the last week of ground temperatures in Fahrenheit taken here at our office.
April 16th – 46.1; 17th – 44.2; 18th – 45.5; 19th – 44.7; 20th – 44.7; 21st – 45.7; 23rd – 47.8; 24th – 50.0.
So we are seeing the warm up that we need for ideal ground temperatures with warmer nights and warmer rain showers. The forecast looks more ideal for what we need for the remaining of the week into the weekend as we reach upper 60’s and 70’s. I will continue to post more ground temperatures for the next few weeks and as always have a safe planting season!
