When annual lespedeza is seeded with a grain crop and the grain is harvested for seed, the lespedeza, which grows rapidly after the grain harvest, can be used as summer pasture to supplement the regular pasture during the summer period of short growth. In this way overgrazing of permanent pastures can be avoided.
Since the seed and leaves of Korean lespedeza remain on the plant well into the winter, this variety provides late Livestock readily eat the dried leaves and seed.
Lespedeza is harvested for seed throughout the region in which it is grown. Depending on latitude, Common, Kobe, and Climax mature from-October to November; and Iowa 6, Rowan, Summit, and Korean from September to October.
The seed of all varieties shatter. Seed of the striate varieties, Common and Kobe, shatter more readily than Korean. Maximum yields of any of the varieties can be obtained only by harvesting the seed very soon after maturity. Studies have shown that 50 percent of the seed may be lost from shattering if harvesting is delayed 2 or 3 weeks after the plants are ripe.
The seed is ordinarily harvested with a combine, with most of the acreage being combined direct. As soon as most of the seed is mature, the lespedeza may be mowed and windrowed while still tough with dew. After curing in the windrow, it can be threshed from the combine with pickup attachments.
If harvested too early, much of the seed will be immature. Early harvested seed may contain green leaves, stems, and other trash that is high in moisture content. Such seed should be cleaned immediately or spread out to dry. When a killing frost occurs before the crop has ripened sufficiently, the seed should be harvested as soon as possible to avoid excessive shattering.
Seed yields of the striate varieties are usually 100 to 250 pounds per acre. The Korean varieties average around 300 pounds per acre. Seed yields of over 1,000 pounds per acre have been reported for Korean, and approximately 70 percent of the total lespedeza seed crop harvested is from Korean varieties.
The seed from the combine must be recleaned to take out the seeds of such weeds as ragweed, povertyweed, and dodder. Dodder seed is about the same size as that of lespedeza, with the exception of Kobe, which is larger. Unbroken pods of dodder are easily cleaned out in other trash. In threshed samples, many pods of dodder are broken, and the screens must be carefully adjusted to remove all or nearly all of the dodder. It is often extremely difficult to remove enough of the dodder to bring the seed up to State certification standards.
Because lespedeza grows in thick stands, it affords an excellent cover throughout the growing season for the prevention of erosion. Lespedeza grown alone or with a grain crop protects the soil from eroding rains from summer to early fall.
It increases soil fertility by adding nitrogen and organic matter. Its use for this purpose is strongly recommended. If it is allowed to remain on the land without being cut, maximum benefit to soil fertility is obtained, but even when the
