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planting alfalfa?

M

mmidlam

Member
school me about planting alfalfa in a sod field. should the field be plowed? chisel and disc work ok? nurse crop?
 
If the "sod" that's there now is alfalfa sod, better wait a year or two before planting alfalfa again due to auto-toxicity. If not, here are some key ingredients to a good alfalfa crop.
1. Good soil. ph of 6.5-7.0 Lime it up to that if necessary. Alfalfa requires P & K $$$. Each ton of alfalfa takes about 12lb P; 50lb K; 30lb Ca; 5 lb Mg; 5lb Su; micros plus 1-2 lb Boron per acre.
2. No need to add N. Alfalfa will take care of its own N requirement. Innoculate the seed.
3. Plant 15-20lb per acre. Use a nurse crop if you want, plant that at about 1 bu per acre.
4. RR alfalfa will make weed control easy.
5. Either disc old sod down and drag smooth to make a good seed bed or, if field is smooth now, use a no-til drill.
 
What is the sod? If alfalfa.....alfalfa is autotoxic. Leaves a "poison" in the soil that kills new alfalfa seeding, unless you wait at least a year. Yes, you need a decent seedbed....that usually means tillage. With totally grass sod and a no-till drill....might work but at seed price of $6 lb....I"d stick with plowing, secondary tillage, and seeding with a Brillion style packer. Packer gives you an excellent stand with 10 lb per acre, vs 15-18 lbs.
 
Burn it. Then wait for it to start greening up, then hit it with Round up. 5 days later drill in your alfalfa with a little OG
Have it in a week before the first frost date. No cover crop required.
You will get any weeds out with your first cut.
Where are you? Nice to have location on these crop posts.
 
The alfalfa partially winter-killed in some of our established fields last year. I took a field cultivator, worked it up without killing off much of the remaining alfalfa, then seeded a grass mixture with Cinnamon clover (supposed to be a finer textured clover) and some oats. The oats provided a decent second cutting and the clover and grass are well established for next year. When establishing a new stand following corn, I work it up good and plant about 10 lbs alfalfa with a grass mixture mixed in with oats. Usually works good. Can't seed new alfalfa into an old stand, auto-toxicity causes seedling death.
Last year, i used my JD 70D with an antique Oliver drill to plant.
Good luck
 
How can weeds grow in a field you are cutting every 30 days. How are you going to get rid of all the volunteer alfalfa in adjoin fields. RR Alfalfa. Worst idea to ever come down the road It will soon take over wose that CT.
 
the only way you are going to plant alfalfa into sod is with a 750 jd drill working it will make a mess that most likely won't make a good stand, better to plant beans for a year then seed it down , as others said if there is old alfalfa in the field it will kill the new seedlings
 
Plow sod under, disc, drag a tooth harrow, then drill. I don't see how you could ever get a good alfalfa field by no-till.
 
I am with you on that.
Neighbor and I both planted alfalfa on plowed ground that had weeds when plowed. Both fields had a good stand of alfalfa along with a good stand of weeds. Before the alfalfa started to bloom I mulched/mowed. I did this every two months. Neighbor let it set until the end of the summer and then treated it to roundup. They plowed it the next summer and kept it worked up the rest of the summer. I was able to have weed free hay all summer. That was four years back and they took the first hay off this last summer.

The Amish in our area had been buying set aside ground, plowing and planting to hay. First years hay with weeds was just mowed before weeds went to seed and let lay. The second year they were able to get good hay. When you plow down weedy field you bring up more weed seeds that will grow.
 
As always, there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. First things first - DON'T buy cheap seed. Ok, now that's out of the way, assuming the soil nutrients are up to snuff and the ph is good (if there is good bit of clover, it probably is at least close), I will give you 2 options of what I have done (successfully) in similar situations:
1. Plow it up, plant oats @ 2 bu/acre and sew the alfalfa (at recommended rate) in with it. Fertilize w/ 10-20-20 @ planting.
2. Frost seed in early March if the conditions allow. Frost seed w/ a broadcast seeder and increase the seed rate slightly. Frost seeding will only work if there is a good bit of open ground so the freeze/thaw action will suck the seeds into the ground. Frost seeding sod takes some planning ahead. The ground should have been lightly disked in the fall to get a good catch frost seeding.
If you know somebody with a good no-till drill, they can be no tilled into a burned (round-up) down field. I have seen it work.
 
I've done it both ways.
mvphoto2783.jpg

no till after Round Up burn down.This was an experiment.





mvphoto2784.jpg


mvphoto2785.jpg


full tillage and planted with a Brillion.By that I mean sub soil at least 20 inchs.mold board plow ,disk,harrow.and slick drum roll before the seeding.

I learned that from my dad.

I personally wouldn't frost seed but that's to each his own.Been doin this 45 years and have never had luck with it.I plant all my fields in late August or early September.


This was an actual sod farm for many years . I use a lot of the same principals in planting alfalfa that we used to grow grass and the results speak for there-self.

Do yourself a favor and have a complete soil annalist done.

Good Luck.
 
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