Crop Comments: Winter forages to farmers: Feed us

Macy’s first Thanksgiving Day Parade occurred in 1924. It was created to celebrate the expansion of Macy’s flagship store and kick off the Christmas holiday shopping season. It featured floats, bands and live animals borrowed from the nearby Central Park Zoo. More recently, the commercial thrust for getting people to buy presents has inched forward on the calendar toward Halloween.

That development got kicked into overdrive about a century earlier when Clement C. Moore’s poem was published in December 1823 in the Troy (NY) Sentinel newspaper. Originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” the rhyming epic was soon retitled “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Few people can hear the phrase “long winter’s nap” without recalling line eight of the poem: “Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.” The agronomist in me ties that line to winter annual forages and perennials in northern climates, as these plants enter suspended animation for a few months. That period is called dormancy.

We shouldn’t forget crops’ nutritional needs even though they’ve “sacked out.” “Bedtime snacks can be healthy and help you sleep better” is a statement reflecting the practical wisdom of human dietitians and sleep therapists. It also applies to plant dietitians. They argue that winter forages go to bed for winter, effectively hibernating (dormancy). One definition explains “for plants, dormancy prepares soft tissues for freezing temperatures, dry weather or water and nutrient shortage. Instead of exerting energy trying to grow, they ‘know’ to stop growing and conserve energy until mild weather returns.”

The following small grain species are classified as winter forages: wheat, rye, triticale (a manmade hybrid of wheat, genus Triticum, and rye, genus Secalis), barley and speltz. As I write on Oct. 12), hopefully anyone wishing to plant winter versions of wheat, triticale or barley has done so, now able to look down straight, nicely formed green rows. Successfully planted rye and speltz benefit from a wider time window. These two species are more tolerant of less-than-ideal planting dates. Rye and speltz planted before Halloween have a decent chance of storing enough root energy to survive Northeast winters.

Likelihood of late small grain plantings dodging winter kill is enhanced by the kindness of an ongoing El Niño climate pattern. Predictions state temperatures in the Northeast will remain unseasonably mild past Thanksgiving, possibly to year’s end. (This might make up for an August that was cooler than normal.) From elninolive.com/impacts/united-states, I learn that there is a 75% chance that el Niño will reach historic strength from October – December. This means that states bordering Canada have a 60% – 70% chance of experiencing above-normal temperatures from December – February 2027. Additionally, the next tier of states to the south (those reaching from Northern California to Delaware) have a 40% – 50% chance of having above-normal temperatures.

Hopefully small grain growers have current soil test results. Documented phosphorus needs should be met at planting time; this is the primary starter nutrient for almost all crops. Moving further into autumn, with growers now managing an emerged crop, I refer to New York field research, which found that up to 60 lbs. of nitrogen (N)/acre increased spring yields of autumn-planted triticale by 43% on fields without prior spring/summer manure applications. Early plantings and autumn N applications significantly increased the number of tillers, thus setting spring’s yield potential.

Even with autumn N applications, I recommend including sulfur (S), with a 10:1 N:S ratio. Rye, being taller than the other winter forage species, is more prone to lodging if N rates exceed 50 lbs./acre in autumn. As another form of bedtime snack for winter grain forages, folks with sod manure injectors can satisfy spring N needs by applying manure up through November or whatever time the ground hardens from freezing.

Manure N is in the ammonia (NH3) form, attaching to soil particles, not leaching or denitrifying. When soil warms come spring, NH3 converts to nitrate and is immediately uptaken by winter forages, already green and growing. Depending on injector type, it may be necessary to roll the field after injection to smooth the soil surface for spring mowing. Fields that are flat or dish-shaped – thus prone to collecting spring runoff – are susceptible to snow mold that can kill affected crops. Fertilizing those areas just before snowfall, with two quarts of liquid S fertilizer and a spreader sticker, helps counter snow mold.

Snow mold is a fungus-caused turf disease that damages or kills grass after snow melts, typically in late winter. Its damage usually concentrates in circles three to 12 inches in diameter. When winter forages start perking up (about when crocuses pop out of the ground), they will start to sponge up surplus moisture that made the mold spores feel welcome in the first place – but it’s still a good idea to use the liquid S fertilizer.

With higher commercial N fertilizer costs (again, thanks to the president’s war on Iran), growers should consider N applied by broadcasting medium red clover. Apply this when snow is gone from meadows, except for lingering traces of stubborn snow drifts. Red clover can be an excellent green manure that fixes N, suppresses weeds and increases corn yields. As a slow growing, cool season legume, it lends itself to under-sowing into winter small grains in early spring. It continues growing after small grain harvest and can be terminated – preferably by disking – in autumn or the following spring before corn planting.

With frost-seeding, seeds are broadcast onto frozen ground or snow in late winter or early spring, then worked into the ground through the freezing and thawing of soil. The N contributed by healthy red clover sods to the next crop in the rotation, or to the accompanying awakening winter forage, can be as much as 100 lbs./acre. However, it’s important to note that in a slow-warming spring, applying some of the much more reactive commercial N usually proves to be a reasonable crop insurance premium, even with that N costing more than we’d like.

by Paris Reidhead