I just throw the Alfalfa pellets around in the rose-beds... they break down and when they are pretty well broken down I go out and throw some more... along with the Black Cow, Black Hen, and Milorganite, and Fish Emulsion...... I keep a good amt. of all that stuff out there, and also mulch... I don't want to see any 'dirt'....... I go thru' a 50 lb. bag of Alfalfa pellets every 3-4 months.... it is all organic and the roses seem to love it.... sally

Hi, I put about 15 cups of pellets in an 18 gallon container and then only put in enuf water to make it mix up good so I can lift my container in and out of my little wagon. I mix up 6 of the 18 gallon containers at one time and when they are ready I get one container at a time in my wagon and finish filling it up water to dilute my concentrated batch and pour on whatever I plan on feeding that day. This way its easier for me to lift the container in and out of my wagon. Plus I can feed quite a bit at one time and then wait a couple weeks and start the process over again. I also add some fish emulsion at the same time I start to apply the tea. I like the ideal too of spreading out the pellets and just letting the rain water it in but haven't tried that yet since I only starting making the tea last year and haven't gotten tired of it yet. Either way I am sure they luuuuv the alfalfa. Just have a fun spring and summer. I am always reading how everyone does things on here and lots of times I try different things just to see which one might work for me. Tootles, Judy

I realize you're anxious to get going with it, but I'd hold off until April 1st. Just kidding. Seriously though, nothing is going to happen to it until the weather warms up. You may as well wait until the evening temps get into the 50s.

Braverichard, I think when people talk about hay or things like grass clippings or coffee grounds matting down and starving the soil, they're talking about much larger amounts of those substances. You wouldn't use alfalfa hay or any of the above substances as mulch alone, for instance, since 2-3" of those substances does indeed clump up and create a barrier. For me, I sprinkle the hay around the base of the root zone on top of the existing mulch like oak leaves or bark mulch, so that the existing air pockets that naturally occur in the mulch keep the hay from clumping up. It also disappears pretty quickly into the mass of the mulch with natural gardening activity, so I don't scratch it in or anything. If I'm really organized (ha! translation - I did this one year), then I put my alfalfa hay and a little fertilizer and/or Ironite down on top of the mostly bare soil at the end of winter before I spread around the bags of leaves I use to protect those roses. And flowersaremusic - that is a good example of how I handle that many roses without a staff (as if - my teenage son and daughter wander out for a half hour now and then if they're really bored, but that's it). I. Do. Not. Fuss. Life's too short, so I don't do things that aren't either fun or really really necessary. Spraying in my world is neither so I don't do it. Deadheading is fun, though not technically necessary, because it allows me to get up close and personal with the roses. Even in a good year I can deadhead most of the yard in a couple of hours on one weekend day, extending maybe into a second weekend day if I'm having a good season. Most of July through October this year I sadly deadheaded in under an hour, including pruning, photos and miscellaneous tasks, hence my complaints about the stinky-poo gardening year for roses. Speaking of stinky-poo, I'm glad that alfalfa tea isn't supposed to smell, so I'm obviously doing it wrong and it's not a good fit for me. And don't get me started on Milorganite - I bought it thinking it would be the same as Ironite effectively, but there are few garden substances that smell worse to me. I couldn't even stand being in the same room as my shoes that had stepped in it, and I have a very poor nose for detecting most smells, at least the good ones. Dogs have very odd ideas of what smells good, and tasting it - bleeggggh! My technique for fertilizing my roses is literally once a year, wheeling a cart with my bale of alfalfa and bag of fertilizer next to a rose bed and a) reach for a fistful of hay (two fists for large roses), b) flick hay around base of rose, c) dip a cup or less of fertilizer and spread around drip line, d) move on. Maybe 15 seconds a rose if I don't get distracted, but heavens - part of the point of gardening is to get distracted. I distribute the big post-winter pruning over 4 or 5 relatively sane weekends of a couple hours each day, starting some time in March when the hardiest roses start budding up a bit (but yes, I wait for the forsythia with the fussy pants roses). The only truly brutal period is planting season from late April to the end of May where I am spending most of my weekend daylight hours planting way too many additional roses, many of whom replace dead ones. Fortunately I have pretty good soil and can plant a rose in 15 minutes (or less for band roses). Back to Adrian's original point - rose gardening is about observation and figuring out what works or doesn't work for you. If you like it and your roses like it, do it even if it's supposed to be "wrong" (like ahem, planting them too close together). If it causes problems, like alfalfa pellets burning, figure out what wasn't working and change it. If you don't like it, don't do it, and be prepared for consequences (like ignoring blackspot or having fewer roses). It's gotta be fun or what's the point! Cynthia