# Thinking of putting in alfalfa in AR



## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Thinking of putting in 20acers of alfalfa. I live just South of Little Rock and have looked at a couple variety's. I read the post VOL put up about this. I think it was 10,000acers grown in Ar in 2012, But said we could do 100,000. I think I can put it in and then put in a irrigation system in the next year. I will be talking to the extension office in the morning. What do you think?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think it will work. How much annual rainfall do you receive? Here, the hardest part of baling alfalfa is getting it dry enough to bale. I suggest getting a preservative applicator so that you can bale it in the low to mid-twenty percentile in moisture.....makes life easier. Here, we have a leaf hopper problem that we have to spray for in straight alfalfa....and I have a greater demand for alfalfa/orchard grass mix than I do for straight alfalfa hay....and the leafhoppers seem to leave the alfalfa/orchard grass mix alone....no spraying.

Regards, Mike


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

We are in the 50-60" annual rain fall range. I have a tedder just in case. I have been looking at a preservative applicator for the 575 just have not pulled the trigger yet.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Would your soils possibly be on the Coastal Plain? What is the surface soil pH. Selection of a deep, well-drained soil with a sub-soil pH above 5.5 (2:1 water:soil method) down to at least 48 inches deep will give you a good shot at success.

You might want to contact your Extension forage specialist, Dr. John Jennings at Little Rock. He has worked with alfalfa production in Arkansas.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Were you going to plant it this spring....we about have to do so here because of Sclerotinia (stem rot) that seems to affect fall planted alfalfa here. I had really good success with spring planted alfalfa here and with your rainfall I would guess you will too. FarmerCline next door in NC also had good success with spring planting alfalfa.

Regards, Mike


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Yea, Would plant in the spring. Soil PH 6.1, soil ECEC 8, soil texture silt loam, Estimated base saturation 64.2 It says no N if prrennial legumes are more than 25% of the stand.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

I talked to Mr Jennings the other day. Nice guy, gave me some good info. Said there is no reason why I cant put in a good stand. We went over my Soil sample, going to put on some lime in Feb and plant in Mar. He is getting me some info on what variety to plant. Getting a couple other fields ready to plant some crimson clover.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

You probably didn't ask for boron analysis on your soil sample. However, in research studies at Texas A&M-Overton on a Darco loamy fine sand limed to pH 7, 4 lb of actual boron/acre increased alfalfa yield by more than 2 tons/acre. I use it on my alfalfa at this rate/acre. Liming acid soils ties up residual soil boron that mainly is in the surface organic layer. The only correlation we were able to develop with alfalfa response to applied boron based on soil boron analysis was when we removed the top two inches of soil and collected samples from the 2 - 6 inch depth. So, a lab analysis for plant available soil boron using the boiling water extraction method on a 6-inch surface depth sample is relatively meaningless. Apply some boron to your soil along with phosphorus, potash, magnesium, and sulfur.

You really need to apply the limestone now rather than later and incorporate it into the soil. Limestone needs time to react, and with the coarse limestone available at Hugo and Idabel, OK, it will not react fast enough. Hopefully you have access to a very fine limestone such as ECCE 95% or higher.

By the way, I'm having great success with the America's Alfalfa variety 455 TQ RR. ~ 5 tons/acre in 4 cuttings the seedling year plus grazing the 5th cutting now. Look it up on the Alfalfa Leaflet to see its disease resistance.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

I did have the boron checked. It said I needed 1lb acre And a 30-80-100 mixed together. And I have a place to get some fine Ag lime. I will be putting it on before Christmas. I will put it all on and then run the disc over it to get it in. Only going to cut 3-4" deep, This is the some place I put the teff in last year. I will check out the 455 TQ RR.


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