# seeding alfalfa



## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

I will be putting is a new hay field and I was wondering what sort of seeding works the best. Ground preparation fertilizer and seeding equipment.

Thank you

Alex Durham


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

Alex,

There are a number of seeding options for alfalfa. The option that will be the best for you will depend on your situation and what you want to do. The biggest decision you need to make are how much tillage, nurse crop vs herbicide, and what variety you're planting. Your ferilizer plan will is affected most by the tillage amount.

Tillage Systems

Coventional Tillage: highest cost, lowest establishment risk, highest soil loss

Fall: chisel or moldboard plow residue from previous crop (corn, wheat, soybean)
Spring: secondary tillag discing, and then a final tillage pass to smooth and firm up the soil-drag with harrow, cutlipacker, etc.

Fertilizer: If your soil test has a pH of below 6.7 you should lime to get the pH up to between 6.7 and 6.9. Lime takes a long time react with the soil so ideally it should be put on at least a year before you plant. To apply the lime broadcast it, disc it, and plow to get it mixed the quickest. If you just got this field and the pH is pretty low you might want to consider liming it this fall and planting something else next spring so the lime has time to react in the soil.
Test soil for P, K, S, and B. If you need to apply anything put it on before the second tillage operation in the spring.

Planting: in most cases 12-15 lb/ac of seed planted between 1/4 to 1/2 in clay and loams and 1/2 to 1 inch on sand. Use a broadcast or Brillion seeder followed by a cultipacker to ensure good seed to soil contact. If the field hasn't been in alfalfa for awhile innoculate the seed with Rhizobia or buy innoculated seed.

Reduced tillage: reduced cost and soil loss, depends on previous crop and residue management

Depending on the crop residue from the previous year you can use less of the opertions described in Conventional Tillage. For example chisel plowing or discing residue from corn silage or soybeans can get the residue lower than 35% of the field area and you could use a conventional seeder with a cultipacker. If you have residue above 35% of you're field area you'll need to till or drill the alfalfa seeds in.

Fertilizer: Same ideas here as conventional, but the lime takes longer to react if the tillage is less. If your not tilling much get the lime on at least 2 years ahead of alfafla planting. Apply the needed nutrients before you till.

Planting: Seed at the same rates and depth as conventional tillage. Use no till drill if residue is 35% or greater.

No-till: lowest cost, requires heavier equipment, risky in some situations.

Since no tillage happens prior to planting removing residue from the rows (7-9 in) or the whole field is necessary. Bale the stalks from corn harvested as grain and the straw from wheat/oats. Soybean residue is less of a concern.

Fertilizer: Lime takes the longest to react with the soil in a no-till system. It should be applied at least 2 or 3 years before alfalfa. The other fertilizers should be applied in a band with the seeding drill or broadcasted after the first and third cuttings.

Planting: Use a drill with heavy down pressure, a coulter in front of a disc opener to cut the residue, double disc openers or an angled single disc opener, press wheels, a small seed box, and a depth control device.

Nurse Crops

You can plant an annual ryegrass or oats as a nurse crop. The seeding rates depend on your location. The ryegrass comes up quick and competes well with weeds earlier in the season and usually dies out if you have harsh winters like we do in the upper Midwest. Oat hay is popular is some parts of the country, you could take the oats for grain or oat silage.

If you don't use a nurse crop use a herbicide that works well on grasses. Round-Up ready alfalfa isn't available yet so thats not an option for next season.

Other thoughts
Often alfalfa is planted after corn silage or in late summer after wheat up here. The late summer planting can be bit risky depending on moisture, but it works well for some farmers who inject manure after wheat harvest, wait a couple of weeks to spray the volunteer wheat with Poast and then no-till their alfalfa.

Make sure you get good lime that has a lot of neutralizing power--the more it has the quicker the reaction takes place.

Select a good variety for your area. Don't just get a high yielder if diseases are an issue. Leaf hopper resistance is another trait to consider, but varies across varieties and you might still need to spray in the seeding year.


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## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

Yep that pretty much sums it up.
THOMAS


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## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

Thank you very much for the help I will keep everyone in formed in whats happening with this field. If I were to plant a striaght alfalfa field how often should i fertilize and what would you use for fertilizer onece the crop is growing.

thank you

Alex


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## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

Just get a soil sample and go by what it says, just remember that the orchardgrass can get some nitrate from the alfalfa and it will probably get the rest out of the dap you put on.
THOMAS


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

Alex,

Tell a little more about your situation: location, what the field is in now, equipment available, etc. I would try to do as much as your fertilizer before you plant as possible, but there are some options available during the season.

Your fertility program will also depend on how long you'll be able to keep the stand of alfalfa in production, and how aggressive you harvest it. We have some pretty hard winters up here and it doesn't pay to keep alfalfa fields in production for 3 or 4 years- 5 years tops using a 3-5 cut/year program depending on the situation and location. Farther south stands probably could stay in longer if the yield was high enough to cover the cost of making hay.

Get a soil test done soon. Acidic conditions (lower soil pH) are pretty limiting to alfalfa yield. If you're set on getting alfalfa in next year and your pH is low you'll defenitely want to lime this fall and wait till the spring to plant, but you take a yield hit until the lime reacts with the soil which will take a couple of years if there not much tillage prior to planting.


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## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

Thank you UpNorth
I'm located in southern ontario
the field is in soy beans rate know the plan is to put some wheat in then plant the alfalfa next summer.
As far as equipment goes I got a plow a disk and field cultivator if anything else is needed i could get it.
thank you
Alex


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

Once you get the soil test back, it should tell you if you need to lime--I'm guessing you will at least a little bit. Since the field is in soybeans right now I would broadcast the lime this fall on the soybean residue and disc it first to start mixing it in. Any tillage done after will help mix the lime further and speed up the reaction to raise the soil pH. In WI our lime is rated on a Neutralizing Index (NI) and most limes in WI have a NI of 60-69 or 80-89, not sure what you have available up there.

Couple of more questions: Exactly where in southern Ontario are you? Are you down by MI and NY or just north of the MN border?

Do you have access to manure? The risk with going in after wheat is sometimes people run into a lack of mositure at the time of planting. I know a dairy man who injects slurry manure right after he take off his wheat straw and then no-tills his alfalfa into the stubble and he has had great success with that system.

Speaking of tillage-how much do you like to do and what type of soils are you working with? Some folks can't get enough of it, while others avoid it if at all possible. Personally I like to limit tillage to narrow strip-tillage or a modified no-tiller unless the situation--like liming calls for it.


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## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

We are in windsor ontario at the ambassador bridge 
I do have acces to horese manure if that would benifit the alfalfa.
I was curious if you are talking about putting the lime on if needed after the beans, disk it then put wheat in?


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

I would put the lime on after the soybeans because it takes awhile for the lime to react with the soil. Discing the lime with the soybean residue mixes the lime with the soil to get the reaction going. Not sure how rough the ground will be after you disc, you may need to do another tillage pass to smooth the ground out for the wheat.

Horse manure is a lot drier that dairy slurry so if you want to put some down you're best off putting it down on the soybean residue when you put the lime on and disc that manure in with the lime. You'll still need to apply some N in the spring at green up to get the yield. The reason I mentioned the manure is because I think the dairy slurry that was injected into the wheat stubble gives the fields a little bit of moisture for that late summer seeding. Where you are located I'm guessing you have pretty constant moisture all summer and it's less risky to plant alfalfa in late summer than in WI.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

I think that if the beans did well, then there isn't much problem with pH, and all that's needed is a maintenace application of lime. We put about 2 ton/acre every 4 years +/- and that is holding us right where we should be. If the horse manure is what I'm used to seeing, it's realy dry. The dairy slurry mentioned is a lot of water - maybe 60%? I can see that would help if there isn't enough soil moisture. We normally plant alfalfa last week, and we normally get some sort of tropical moisture this time of year, so that isn't a big deal for us.

Rodney


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## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

[Where you are located I'm guessing you have pretty constant moisture all summer and it's less risky to plant alfalfa in late summer than in WI.[/QUOTE]

Ya we usaually go through some dry weather in july. We usally start getting rain again in mid august. Then we shoot to get the alfalfa seeded before the last week of august. 
Thank you very much for the help any advice is greatly appreciated.
Alex


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

The optimal soil pH for soybeans is 6.3 while alfalfa is 6.8. It doesn't hurt the beans to be in the 6.8-7 range. Rodney, what is your lime graded at? That's a good interval to be applying the lime, but I'm curious to see what the numbers are on your soil pH and lime grade because someone else could be putting 2 tons/ac of lime on every 4 years and not even be in the ballpark as far as what they need.

Dairy slurry is usually very high in moisture (85%+), but the exact amount varies quite a bit across farms and different management systems.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

I don't know what the lime is graded at that we're having put on. You are right - 2 tons every so many years could be entirely the wrong thing to do. It could either send the pH way to high or let it drop to low. It depends on the soil. Like I said (and I guess it's not text book) if the beans did well, and the pH has been looked after (no mineral mining!) then I don't think the guy should have a heart attack about his soil pH. We'll run an alfalfa field 6-16 years, and in that time it's gonna need some lime. I know that some guys will apply a ton or two right before they plant an alfalfa field. I'm left wondering why they care now - the fertility is something that has to be looked after all the time, not just when you plant something that needs it. I guess that's just my mindset. An expensive one, but maybe a good one?

Rodney


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

I've worked with a lot of dairymen and they're trying to max their yield on limited acreage so that's why I'm really big on the liming. Also its the easiest to get fertilizers and manure mixed into the field prior to planting the alfalfa.

Where are you located Rodney, 6-16 years of alfalfa in a field wouldn't yield well at all up here in WI. I find it hard to believe that there's enough hay coming off those old fields to justify keeping in alfalfa, but a in certain situation I suppose it probably fits a need. We're pretty aggressive up here and don't generally leave an alfalfa field for more than 3-5 years. Yield usually peaks at 2-3 years and a lot of the dairymen go into corn silage or corn grain for another 2-3 years before going back to alfala. Personally I like to see some soybeans and wheat or oats before going back to alfalfa.


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