Lezpedesa

[Crowderfarms]

There are predominantly 2 varieties of Lespedeza, The Korean, and the Kobe. Kobe is the most popular of the 2 in this part of the Country. It's an annual, that a lot of people plant to attract Dove and Quail. If you plant it for hay, pinpointing a harvest time is essential cause it'll head out to seed, and lose a lot of nutritional value. It's also great for errosion control.

 

[dun]

It's called poor mans alfalfa. Properly managed as pasture it will reseed itself year after year. Lespedeza also doesn;t cause bloat like clover, alfalfa, etc.

dun

 

[Larry Sansom]

Just make sure you are not looking at sericea - that stuff is BAD.

 

[Chuckie]

You can get lespedeza at your friendly neighborhood Tennessee Farmer's Co-op! It has been a while since I bought any, but it used to be fairly inexpensive compared to some of the other seed.

 

[alabama]

Just make sure you are not looking at sericea - that stuff is BAD.

What is the trouble with Sericea? I have seen it recomended by several universities. I have not planted any but I understand that it will do well in low PH???

 

[J. T.]

There's been a few discussions about sericea on here before. The Land Grant universities have supported it's use and have developed several varieties of it for grazing and erosion control. Some of the drawbacks of it are the high tannin content that makes it unpalatable, it tends to get stemmy if over mature, and the seedlings are weak. On the plus side, it is high in protein (close to 20 percent), it grows on poor soil with low pH, the leaves form a thick layer of organic material on the ground in a short time, and once established, it will stay with you unless grazed too short.

 

[dun]

There's been a few discussions about sericea on here before. The Land Grant universities have supported it's use and have developed several varieties of it for grazing and erosion control. Some of the drawbacks of it are the high tannin content that makes it unpalatable, it tends to get stemmy if over mature, and the seedlings are weak. On the plus side, it is high in protein (close to 20 percent), it grows on poor soil with low pH, the leaves form a thick layer of organic material on the ground in a short time, and once established, it will stay with you unless grazed too short.

And in MO at leadst it's considered a noxious weed and you're required to eliminate it.

dun