SERICEA AND OTHER PERENNIAL LESPEDEZAS 



17 



Figure 6. — Cutting sericea hay with a windrowing attachment. This attach- 

 ment may also be used in harvesting the seed crop. 



After the hay is cut, the new growth (fig. 7) comes from the 

 stubs as in sweetclover, not from the crowns as in alfalfa. Seri- 

 cea should, therefore, not be cut too low. A stubble 2 to 3 inches 

 high is desirable. This second growth may be cut for hay or may 

 be left to produce seed. 



Number of Cuttings 



All perennial legumes can be cut so often that the plant will be 

 damaged. This is true of alfalfa and kudzu, as well as of sericea. 

 The early growth of these plants is made at the expense of 

 reserve food stored in the roots. This food reserve must be 

 replenished if the plants are to remain alive. The frequency 

 of cutting for any plant will obviously depend on how favorable 

 conditions are for growth. Alfalfa, for example, may be cut 

 six to eight times a year in southern California, but four cuttings 

 a year in Wisconsin result in serious damage. 



Sericea also responds to favorable conditions. On good soil in 

 favorable sections three cuttings of hay a year have done no 

 great harm whereas four cuttings seriously reduced the stand. 

 On soil of low productivity, two cuttings may be more than the 

 plants can safely endure. At the West Tennessee Agricultural 

 Experiment Station one hay and one seed crop in a year did not 

 affect the stand and vigor; two hay crops injured the stand 

 about 25 percent, three hay crops 50 percent, and four hay crops 

 75 percent. Farmers having a good stand of sericea on poor 

 sandy land have been known . to cut three or four hay crops a 



