# need opinions on triticale



## NCSteveH (Jun 30, 2009)

I have a 10 acre field that is pretty well in need of renovating, weeds are starting to get a foothold, My idea is to hit the field with 2,4,D to burn the weeds down then disk it and broadcast ~120lb. of triticale/acre and run a cultipacker over it in the spring. I would hope to get 2 cuttings in before putting the field back into Timothy. I have already decided that this will be my "experimental" field so I am also open to other forage crops being rotated through the field. one thing that caught my eye on the triticale is the potential for up to 5t/ac at boot stage and up to 10t/ac at dough stage! My thinking though is those are under perfect conditions and would expect about 2/3rd's those numbers. almost forgot, field is located just north of Bangor Maine, looking at early april seeding.


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

There are some spring tritacale varieties, but most are planted in the fall. I think if you want to get two cuttings you need to plant the fall planted variety so that it has the time to go through the vernalization process.


----------



## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

I agree, winter triticale is what would suite you best. Spring triticales will not give near as much yield, and the 2nd cutting may encroach into your hay planting time.

I raise and sell Pika winter triticale seed through my seed business. It has proven to be a winter hardy and consistent high yielder here in the northern and central plains region. Don't know what variety would be the best for your region though.

Choose your variety carefully as winter hardiness, and forage yield can vary widely.
The best winter annual cereal forage trial data for my area was done at Hays KS, but is becoming somewhat dated.

http://www.wkarc.org/FCKUploads/File/2003Handout.pdf


----------

