# Spraying for leafhoppers



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I have been planting a leafhopper resistant variety of alfalfa so I have never had to spray for leafhoppers before. This year I did not plant a resistant variety. This alfalfa was planted in late April and is about 10" tall and I'm now starting to see some symptoms of leafhopper damage. I really did not anticipate I would see any signs of leafhoppers until after the first cutting from what I had read. I'm now wondering if I need to spray now or is the damage already done? If I spray now will the alfalfa outgrow the symptoms? It's not big enough to even think about cutting.

Hayden


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Spray it, like yesterday. Leafhoppers will make it so you won't need to worrry about cutting. Damage is done for this crop but hopefully you can salvage it for next cut. Warrior is your friend.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

stack em up said:


> Spray it, like yesterday. Leafhoppers will make it so you won't need to worrry about cutting. Damage is done for this crop but hopefully you can salvage it for next cut. Warrior is your friend.


 That is what I was wondering, what is going to happen to what growth is there now? Will it not grow out of the leafhopper damage or will it start back from the crown? Like I said not enough growth to think about cutting as the stand is still very young. Just some scattered patches of damage now.....not every plant.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Agree with Stack. Spray asap. Here we see leaf hopper damage on individual stems, but not all are affected. New growth will occur from the alfalfa crowns, but if the damage is spotty, you should still get a reasonable cutting from the unaffected growth after killing the hoppers.

Here we have 3-cornered leaf hopper damage that occurs at the base of the stem. The damage is caused by the hoppers girdling the stem about 1/2 inch above the soil surface. This effectively kills the stem and it and its leaves become chlorotic.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Agreed ,spray immediately or you will end up with nothing and it is not good for the plants to let them feed on it, make sure the sprayer is squeaky clean


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

vhaby said:


> Agree with Stack. Spray asap. Here we see leaf hopper damage on individual stems, but not all are affected. New growth will occur from the alfalfa crowns, but if the damage is spotty, you should still get a reasonable cutting from the unaffected growth after killing the hoppers.
> 
> Here we have 3-cornered leaf hopper damage that occurs at the base of the stem. The damage is caused by the hoppers girdling the stem about 1/2 inch above the soil surface. This effectively kills the stem and it and its leaves become chlorotic.


 I will spray asap....probably be a few days as the ground is saturated after the toad strangler we got yesterday. Just started seeing some damage and it's not widespread across the field yet so maybe it hasn't been hurt much yet.

We have 3 cornered hoppers here as well. In fact that is one of the reasons I didn't plant a leafhopper resistant variety this year as I found that I was having to spray for 3 cornered hoppers and other insects anyway and I wanted to try a different variety than I had been using. I usually don't see much 3 cornered hoppers until July here.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

endrow said:


> Agreed ,spray immediately or you will end up with nothing and it is not good for the plants to let them feed on it, make sure the sprayer is squeaky clean


 Yep, going to have to rinse the sprayer out again. As much as I have to spray alfalfa I'm starting to think I need a sprayer dedicated to using only on alfalfa so I don't have to do so much time consuming rinsing.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Use some ammonia in your sprayer.....1 quart per 100 gallons of water capacity.....let it mix well in the tank and then let it run through the booms and let it sit a couple of hours.

You likely do not have as big a leafhopper problem as you think yet.....they almost always start feeding around the edges of the field here.....but you do need to spray. Spray again about a week after you take a cutting and that will get you pretty much into the next cutting.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Well it finally dried up enough yesterday that I could get the alfalfa sprayed for leafhoppers without rutting up the field. Not sure how much good it did to spray at this point but I decided last week it wasn't worth rutting up the field to save one cutting. Also sprayed a field across the road that was cut about 10 days ago.....didn't see any leafhopper damage yet but I figured I had better go ahead and spray.

Those of you that have to spray for leafhoppers how long after cutting/baling do you wait to spray?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

7-10 days....any later and you crush a lot of alfalfa.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Call the plane to spray it.Or the co-op has 120' booms so not many wheel tracks anyway.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> 7-10 days....any later and you crush a lot of alfalfa.
> 
> Regards, Mike


 Will a pyrethroid like Karate(lambda cy) give protection until next cutting when sprayed that soon after cutting? Would there be a different chemical that would be better to use?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It seems to work well for about three weeks...and then you notice hoppers beginning around the edges. I took this recommendation several years ago out of the haybaler101 notebook.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> Call the plane to spray it.Or the co-op has 120' booms so not many wheel tracks anyway.


 No crop dusters around here.....small less than 10 acre fields and hilly terrain aren't well suited to spraying with a plane. No co-op close by.....I use a private owned fertilizer dealer about 30 miles away and their spray rig is an old 2 ton truck with a tank mounted on the flatbed and a 45' boom. I have to twist their arm to even spray for me so I end up doing most of it myself with a 30' boom sprayer. Farming is on its way out around here.....too much development using up what little land is even farmable.


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