Kobe per acre are sown when lespedeza is included in a pasture mixture.
The seed of the annual lespedezas should be
sown broadcast or drilled alone or on winter grain. If broadcast
seeding is done too late or if the ground is too hard for
freezing and thawing to work the seed under the surface, the
field should be lightly harrowed after seeding. Freshly prepared
land or loose seedbeds should be rolled or otherwise firmed. A
firm seedbed is essential in obtaining a good stand.
When annual lespedzas are seeded on meadows or
pastures, a spring tooth harrow or disk should be used to loosen
the surface soil before the seed is sown. This will do much to
insure a stand.
Annual lespedezas yield an average of 1 ton
of hay per acre. On good soils 2 to 3 tons may be expected.
Many farmers have establishment problems when
seeding lespedeza in small grain. Stands are lost or surviving
plants are too weak to compete with weeds when high nitrogen
rates are used on the grain crop. The use of the more vigorous,
improved varieties of lespedeza and adequate but not excessive
amounts of nitrogen will result in better stands and hay yields.
Weeds are a serious problem on small
grain-lespedeza rotations where soil fertility is improved by
application of a complete fertilizer. Under these conditions it
appears desirable to shift from lespedeza to other legumes or
grasses that are
capable of greater production on the more fertile soils.
The best hay is made by cutting the annual
lespedezas in first bloom or just before first bloom. In the
latitude of North Carolina this will usually be the first half of
August for the Korean varieties and about 2 weeks later for the
striate varieties. When lespedeza is left until a considerable
part of the seed is ripe, the hay is of poorer grade.
Lespedeza contains less moisture than alfalfa
or red clover and is consequently more quickly cured. The
field-cured hay contains somewhat more dry matter than
field-cured alfalfa or clover hay. Annual lespedeza that is cut
when no more than 10 inches high should be windrowed soon after
cutting and in good weather may be hauled to the barn in 24
hours. If cut early in the morning it can be stacked late the
same day. If it is more than 15 inches high when cut, the hay
should lie in the swath longer. In the southern part of the
lespedeza region, a seed crop of the annual lespedezas may be
produced after harvesting a very early hay crop.
If a volunteer stand of annual lespedeza is
desired the following year, the hay must be cut early (about
first bloom) and high enough for the second growth to have time
to produce seed; or the cutting must be delayed until part of the
seed has matured sufficiently to shatter while the hay is being
cut. The latter practice, however, will result in poor hay.
Each year between 1943 and 1952, American farmers produced over 6 million tons of lespedeza hay.
