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alfalfa blister beetles

So I have a new seeding which was cut for hay. After it started to green up it was infested with beetles, which is a brand new thing for me so Im learning as I go here. They ate about 20% of the field to the dirt (leaving the weeds and grass of course).

My question is will the alfalfa come back with rainfall in the chomped section. Secondly do the beetles affect deer in a negative way. They are horse poison but cows get by with it is what I read but nobody mentions wild game. Curious what you dwellers of the hot humid part of the world have seen of this problem.

Yes it should come back this fall. Phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is very important for alfalfa and would give it a good jolt back to life if you are able. Alfalfa being a legume it makes its own nitrogen

spray with bifan if they are still there

Yeah don't feed it to the horses so they don't get cantharidin toxicosis aka "the slobbers".Not a deer problem.

Should bounce back. If its spotty, you can do a shallow disc next spring. It cuts the crown roots and spurs new growth.

Is it alfalfa weevils eating the plant or blister beatles, typically the first cutting of hay will have weevils in it but the heat of summer takes care of them after that without need for insecticide, do the leaves look like fish net stockings with little holes chewed in them, agronomists have said not to spray unless necessary cuz you will kill non targets like lady bugs so on that are beneficial to the field

it is the yellow striped beetles, stripes running lengthwise. ground was covered with 'em. First Ive ever seen of one, but obviously a regional thing. Drought, floods, pestilence and now beetles... farming is easy, all that is missing is a twister with baseball hail.

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