alfalfa: does anyone use it?
linaria_gw
5 years ago
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does ANYTHING in alfalfa attract wildlife?
Comments (14)Alfalfa will attract herbivores - voles, mice, rabbits, etc. It's a high-value forage plant after all, tasty and nutritious. That's why people make good money growing the stuff, because it's good feed for livestock and rabbits. Hunters use it too to attract deer and elk. Lots of things like alfalfa. Bone and blood and feather meal attract carnivores and scavengers. I did have one out of three dogs that ate the alfalfa pellets. I also had lots of vole damage when I've tried using alfalfa pellets. I stick to alfalfa tea now....See MoreWhat does an alfalfa seed head look like?
Comments (4)Straw is usually the stalks left over after oats or wheat have been threshed off the plants. Al Pablo indicated, not all straw is free of seeds. A lot depends on how it was harvested and the efficiency of the machinery. Some if it is likely to have quite a bit of seed, but any seed that manage to survive and come up from that is easy to pull up or deal with. I really like alfalfa, it is a good natural, slow release nitrogen source and is also supposed to contain a natural growth harmone which might possibly benefit your plants. My sister in law who raises horses swept up, and filled several feed bags with broken up bits of high dollar alfalfa hay. I have added it in with other materials to prep a row for planting in my garden, and things seem to be growing great. I do not know if you can tell much about it from of it or not. Most alfalfa hay is cut and baled before it seeds out, I have never, ever had any problem with seed sprouting from using it. Just my.02 Bill P....See MoreWhy alfalfa tea works better than alfalfa?
Comments (10)After researching, I find that alfalfa meal decomposes fast and gives off quick heat, more so than alfalfa pellets. I cooked a geranium to death by planting in a clay mixed with alfalfa meal. I did the same with 2 rhododendrons in hot and dry summer. Years ago we detached our lawn in late fall and stored bags of grass clippings in the garage .. the entire garage was heat up, despite 40 degrees outside. NPK of alfalfa pellets is 2-1-2 ($17.99 for 50 lbs. bag), NPK of soy bean meal is 7-2-1 ($20 for 50 lbs. bag), and NPK of crack corn is 1.65 / 0.65 / 0.4 ($2.69 for 10 lbs. bag) at feed store. NPK of alfalfa hay is 2.45 - 0.5 - 2.1, sold for $8 per bale at the feed store. Corn is alkaline, has anti-fungal property. Soybean meal is also alkaline. Alfalfa meal is slightly acidic and naturally high in sugar, great for fungal germination. See below discussion "Afalfa Meal Heating Up Soil" in Organic Gardening Forum: â¢Posted by mprevost 7 (My Page) on Sun, Jan 13, 08 Throughout that time I've used only bagged composted chicken manure, alfalfa meal, soybean meal, and various mulches (leaves, grass clippings) to fertilize my soil. I have not seen this heating up occur without significant concentrations of alfalfa meal. Without a lot of alfalfa meal, it does not heat up. But if you put a lot of alfalfa meal under mulch or in a hole, it gets REAL hot in a couple of days. Like as hot as a very hot compost pile. 150 deg F or so. " **** From Straw: I haven't tested soy bean meal, so I won't recommend that. I tested cracked corn (grinded smaller with NutriMill flour grinder) ... awesome result, shiny leaves & many buds. Birds like to eat that stuff. The growth can't compare to alfalfa meal, but I'm aiming for buds and health in hot summer, and not top growth. Alfalfa hay is $8 per bale, best to mix that in with dirt, since the hay is hard to decompose, plus matting-up, blocking water. Some info. from the lawn forum: â¢Posted by lee_in_iowa 4 to 5 on the lin (My Page) on Thu, Apr 14, 11 at 11:35 Boy, I can't recommend the soybean meal. Never again! I tilled it into the top 4-6 inches of my raised beds one year and it grew me a bumper crop of cutworms and armyworms. It attracted pests I had never had before. For myself, I like to ask for bales of alfalfa hay." Here is a link that might be useful: Reference link on Organic Fertilizers This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Sep 2, 13 at 10:02...See MoreAnyone tried growing own Alfalfa for fertilization?
Comments (6)Actually I tried this. Last year I had a decent stand of alfalfa--more as a cover crop and not specifically for fertilizer. The problem with this is that the rabbits chewed the alfalfa down to the ground at the end of the season. Even if I had harvested sooner, it wouldn't have been enough to make a difference. You need pretty good acreage to have enough to make it worthwhile. (I'm on a 0.2 acre lot) Honestly, I've had better luck harvesting my native grasses. (Little bluestem and side oats grama) During spring cleanup I end up with quite a bit of native grass 'hay' from my prairie garden and native plantings. I use my lawn mower to incorporate it into the lawn. This doesn't replace my normal fertilizer routine, but it breaks down quicker than composting....See Morelinaria_gw
5 years ago
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