WOOSTER, Ohio — Ohio growers may find that although alfalfa can
weather the current extreme heat and drought conditions from a
quality standpoint, there will be less alfalfa overall because
of the lack of moisture the region continues to experience, an
Ohio State University Extension educator said. An established
alfalfa plant has a deep taproot allowing it to extract moisture
from the soil and continue growing even under drought
conditions, said Rory Lewandowski, an agricultural and natural
resources educator for OSU Extension. And while the plants can
go into a prolonged dormancy in drought conditions and still
recover when it rains, the short-term forecast calls for
continued hot, dry weather, he said. So growers whose plants
have regrowth beginning to bloom at 4 to 6 inches need to know
that there will be little additional tonnage gained by delaying
harvest. “The bottom line is that drought-induced moisture
stress can cause plants to move through maturity stages quicker,
and plants bloom sooner on fewer a