Korean Lespedeza: A Summer Annual Legume for Pasture and Grazing
Dale walks through Korean lespedeza—a summer annual legume that thrives in July and August when cool-season grasses slow down. You'll see how this plant delivers dense biomass, won't cause bloat, tolerates 2,4-D herbicide, and reseeds itself for reliable pasture production year after year.
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0:00 This is a legume that used to be very popular in the earlier part of the 20th century. This is Korean lespedeza, it's an annual legume, it looks quite a.
0:26 Little bit like an alfalfa or a clover or bird's foot trefoil but it's actually a summer annual legume and it's got some really neat attributes to it. I think weren't some inclusion in some.
0:40 Of our mixes you can tell it doesn't get very tall but it is really dense. It packs a lot of pounds per inch of height compared to some of the other summer annuals. This doesn't look much like.
0:56 A lot here a biomass but this is probably close to 2 tons an acre and biomasses got a very high dry matter content some things that make lespedeza unique number one is that most of the
1:11 Growth occurs in July and August, which is unusual for a forage legume. It reseeds itself very readily, so it finds use in a lot of pasture situations to increase the July and August production.
1:29 Especially in cool season grass pastures, can be used on cropland as well. Establish as well by broadcast and to say a growing wheat crop it's a great companion legume to taller growing.
1:43 Materials very nutritious. It contains about one or two percent tannin, which means that it does not cause bloat. It can also help prevent bloat in combination with things like alfalfa or.
2:16 Especially in the heat of summer. Another advantage that's very unique for this plant is that it is tolerant to beside to 4D if you are in a.
2:30 Situation where you've got weed issues that you're having trouble controlling and you're growing a summer grazing crop and you are not including legumes in that mix because you want to have the
2:43 Option A spraying to 4D for weed control. You can throw lespedeza in there so you look seddan grass or millet. You want to have a legume but you still want the option to control weeds with our.
2:57 Herbicide annual lespedeza can fit that bill for you. It's an interesting little plant, first year we've really carried much, but one that I've had a thirty year track record with and I really like it. I've used it extensively on my own farm.