The majority of regions in SA had a reasonable amount of rainfall during ANZAC long weekend. It was a good opening rain to start the season for broad acre crops and also legume pastures. These opening rains should result in an excellent germination of medic, sub-clover and clover this year.

Now is a good time to get out of our utes and closely inspect pasture paddocks for the presence of insects. Apply insecticide to protect regenerating legume pasture if insects are in damaging levels, not only to have a good pasture this year but also to set a good seed bank for next couple of years.

It can be very risky and critical time of the year for legume pasture paddocks, especially for those paddocks that have had high levels of Red-legged earthmite or Lucerne flea.

Farmers commonly find themselves busy with their seeding program and forget about unprotected newly germinated pastures, which are extremely sensitive to attack by Lucerne flea, Red-legged earthmite or Blue oat mite. 
It has been common that after sowing crops, farmers turn up at the pasture paddock and see a poorly performing pasture or nothing left at all, whereas several weeks earlier, there was a dense population of legume seedlings that could have been the foundation of an excellent pasture year.

Pasture seeds are available with a variety of seed-coatings which contain inoculants, insecticides, fungicides and nutrients, giving up to four weeks protection from sowing for Red-legged and soil born disease such as Pythium. But it protects the sown seeds, the main threat is still targeting regenerating pasture that didn’t receive any insecticide or fungicide and are exposed to all these waiting disasters. These four weeks are not really a long period once Red-legged earthmite and Blue oat mite have up to 4 generations a year, but long enough to give farmers the chance to get their equipment and chemicals organised for root disease and insects.

Also with simple soil test we can identify those paddocks with high level of insect potential and root disease. Then choose resistant varieties of legume pastures to that disease. 

AUTHOR: Mehdi Zaboli, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Consultant,
Rural Solutions SA

CONTACT: Mehdi Zaboli, PIRSA/ Rural Solutions SA Murray Bridge office, Telephone, 08 853 563 97, Mobile, 0418 500 812, Email zaboli.mehdi@saugov.sa.gov.au