BENEFITS OF ALFALFA

Soil Health

Alfalfa feeds microorganisms. In turn, they help breakdown plant residue to build organic matter which helps hold moisture, improves soil structure, and prevents compaction and erosion.

Nitrogen fixation

Plant corn following terminated alfalfa stand to take advantage of the 120-150 unit nitrogen credit.

Weed control

Established alfalfa stands provide excellent ground cover and use a lot of moisture and nutrients depriving weeds of what they need and preventing germination and / or survival.

Compaction:

Alfalfa’s deep root zone can help alleviate previous compaction issues while also preventing further compaction pending appropriate harvest conditions.

PLANTING IDEALS

Preparation: Smooth, firm seed bed

Ideally want to be able to bounce a basketball on the seed bed. Why? When small seeds germinate, the roots need come into immediate contact with moisture and nutrients to survive and rapidly grow. ‘Fluffy’ seedbeds have too much dead airspace that will cause the seedling to die.

Depth: 1/4″ [ 1/2″ max ]

Rate: 20 pounds 34% coated alfalfa

Timing:
Summer seeding: August 1 – 20 [ensure adequate moisture]
Spring seeding: As close to April 1st as possible [utilize a cover crop over winter, manage weeds and field conditions]

CUTTING BASICS

Height: 3″ [ 2″-2.5″ minimum ]
Lowering the cutting height slows down regrowth and invites more disease into the crown of the plant.

Timing: 60-75% bloom
At Verhoff’s, we guarantee end users dehydrated alfalfa pellets with a protein level of 17 or higher. At full bloom, the protein level drops, so we choose to cut prior to in order to reach our protein goal. Typically, we cut every 30-40 days depending on bloom and weather.

Winter Preparation: 4″ height
We don’t want to smother crowns, so 4″ of growth over winter is ideal [6″ max]. We avoid cutting any lower in order to protect the crown from harsh weather.

STAND EVALUATION

New Seeding [plants per square foot]

20+ plants = adequate stand
10-19 plants = marginal stand
Less than 10 plants = consider replanting

Established Stand [stems per square foot]

Over 55 stems = not yield limiting
40-55 stems = some yield limits