# Splitting alfalfa crowns



## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I read on agtalk a bit about splitting the crowns on alfalfa plants. Doing it with an old light disc set to shallow angles just skimming the surface. The idea to have one crown growing into 2 plants instead of one(like getting grain to tiller to increase forage yield). Just seeing if anyone has done this and what were the results.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

When did they suggest doing it?


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

I had heard you do it before spring green up, right when it comes out of dormancy.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

When I was a kid,many moons ago.I remember a few neighbors doing it with a field cultivator.The FC of that time were not near as strong and they ran points so they jiggled around the crowns.Another reason they did it was because of pigeon grass (green,yellow & giant foxtail)This was before any hebicides were available in alfalfa for grass control.

I've run a no-till drill over alfalfa many acres interseeding with no aparant damage,IDK if it helped either??

Discs and Field cultivators of today are built way heavier then of yester year,they would tear out more then with the lighter ones.I've always thought a Danish tine would maybe work good for this and leveling pocket gopher mounds???


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

How about that. Learn something new every day. I noticed ya'll with experience in this practice are in a little colder dryer climate than I am in the winter. Does that have anything to do with why I've never heard of doing that. Our March and April are such that if you can't do it with a plane or massive floater it don't get done.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

The one guy on agtalk was saying that an alfalfa stand can live for 20+ years if you split the crowns. I have never heard of doing that till I read what he said.


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

hog987 said:


> The one guy on agtalk was saying that an alfalfa stand can live for 20+ years if you split the crowns. I have never heard of doing that till I read what he said.


Lemme do the math. Up here 2 cuts a year X 20 years X 4 passes per cutting. Say you make a wheel rut on the 1st cutting......only 159 more times to hit it again before you tear up the field? lol


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## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

Each spring it normally turns dry enough for a few days during the first couple weeks in March (it was the end of March this year) that I can get in with a no-till drill to sow oats. I normally cut and bale the first cutting then graze the rest of the season. It seems my stand gets better each year. I decided to try this after discussing the practice of splitting alfalfa crowns with an old-timer. It seems to work well for me. (The drill is set on 7" spacing.)


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Seem to remember dad doing that once or twice with our 8 ft disc running straight. Don't recall any fields lasting more than seven yrs @ 3 to 4 cuttings per...a few yrs 5 times


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Most of the time if my stand is getting thin enough to even consider purposely damaging the crowns trying to split em, the field is also getting rough and most likely a little weedy as well. Make the first cut then no-till to corn, if it was bad enough the year before just spray it early spring then no-till to corn.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

carcajou said:


> Lemme do the math. Up here 2 cuts a year X 20 years X 4 passes per cutting. Say you make a wheel rut on the 1st cutting......only 159 more times to hit it again before you tear up the field? lol


you not suppose to ruts in the field  Easier said than done right


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## MT hayer (Mar 1, 2014)

This is a good area to discuss. We have the gopher mounds in most every place out here so we try to go over the fields with something. The Danish tines were a nice idea, but they break off because of vibration. Everyone had an old disk so they used them. A newer field cultivator or the finish tools like a Krause Landsman do a nice job. The disc cuts the roots and they don't recover as fast as a spike that tares it. I have worked in our part of the country a lot trying things. I have a few conclusions that I have seen.

If it is an old stand, better off to spray it first, especially if it has rhizominous grass. Then work it down or no till crop for two years, then plant back. If you have a grass and weed issue, go in in the spring with spikes on 6 inch spacing, about 2 inches deep. Gets most of the cheat grass and other annuals. It looks awful but give it a month and it will be fine. I feel splitting the crowns on an older stand certainly helps. Do a few test passes and watch it? It also will set a crop back to allow you a bigger window for haying. It will cut your bug and hopper population down considerably by disturbing the nests. I do feel the best results are with the last pass being a big roller or packer of some type so the roots get back to work faster. This has been what I have found. If your fields are good production wise, just a heavy drag to knock the gopher mounds down. Not a spring harrow or any of those things. I have helped several build their own. Only good in the spring because the big mounds are made in the fall and winter. Much more to tell but that is the just....


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

Agree with running a tyned rig across as part of weed management, it works a treat. But as far as splitting stems, I'm still worried about it opening up the plants to disease. If my stand is thin enough to warrant driving a tillage tool over, I'd be better off pulling the drill instead to drill some oats or grass in to thicken things up and a roller behind to push anything dug up or dropped on the ground throughout the previous few years.


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## Tjim (Feb 23, 2014)

We lightly disk our fields now and then and have never noticed the stand actually improving, though it doesn't seem to damage much either. As stated, it does help with rough sections and it's pretty effective against weeds. Years ago there was a study in the PNW where we farm and it showed disking can open the crowns to phytophthora root rot in well irrigated or more moist areas.


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