# planting rates for orchard grass/alfalfa



## oliver

I live in north central Ohio and would like a 60/40 stand of orchard grass/alfalfa. Plan to use a drill with two boxes. I have the ground worked well and firmed up. Ready to plant, but not sure exactly how many lbs./acre to plant to achieve what I want.


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## mlappin

That's a toughie. We plant 18-20 lbs to the acre of alfalfa, 3-4 pounds of orchard grass, and a bushel to the acre of oats for a cover. What the ratio ends up being the first few years is really hard to say. Seems every field is a little differant, some you can tell the orchard grass is their, others it seems to take a few years for it to really show up well.


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## Heyhay..eh

My experience has been that a 60/40 ratio (alfalfa/grass) works well. The grasses ,may be slow to take but the alfalfa will respond fairly immediately. What you get depends a lot on the filed that you sow into some areas won't be friendly to alfalfa but will allow grasses to flourish, but generally you get a good mix in the bale after a few years.

The last field we put in was 115 ac. of alfalfa/timothy/orchard (60/30/10) Check the seed count/pound to get the relative plant populations in ideal conditions. The most important part of the process is getting enough fertilizer to really kick start the plant and get things established. We had the our seed mixed in with the granular and laid on by the local dealer. He did our 115 ac in under an hour. We just stood by with harrows and finished up after. The field turned out to be the envy of the territory.

In this 4th year we have yielded about 2 tons/ acre in the first cut and in a year that has not been very favourable for us. In fact that might be the end of the harvest if we don't get some summer weather soon.weather.

Oh now if we have low spots we spread in some trefoil. Good crop and prolific even in bad conditions.

Good luck


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## Production Acres

one concern you might want to look at that we are looking at seriously is weed control. weeds are much less of a problem with the o/a than with just a orchardgrass stand as the alfalfa really gets up quick in the summer and crowds out some of the annoying summer annuals that plauge our t/o stands; however a o/a stand has almost no herbicides available to take out summer weeds. We have been told that a better situation might be to plant alfalfa - spray the field for 2-4 years, as the stand thins, no till some orchardgrass in the field to get a nice o/a that is realitively weed free. We are going to try this on 100 acres this fall.


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## swmnhay

Orchard 6-8 Alfalfa 12-15.Like others said the Orchard can be slow to establish so I wouldn't go to low on the alfalfa or the weeds may come first yr until it gets established.The % of O to A will be different each cutting.O is a cool season grass and will grow better in spring and fall.Mid summer if it is hot and dry there may not be as much O in the hay, the alfalfa will be dominate.And I would add some N to fertilizer for the Orchard.

Have a field that was planted 4# orchard 18# alfalfa.
1st cut is about 40-50% Orchard.
2nd cut 15-25% Orchard
3rd cut 50-60% Orchard

The first yr after seeding was more alf until the orchard became established.


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## tom burlingham

you won't see the orch until 2011. I'd use 12 lbs alf and 3 orch. We planted 3 lbs orch into wheat april 5 this year, looks good, harvested the wheat and straw last week and planted 13 lbs alf today. This will be mixed hay in 2010. As your stand ages the alf will be less and the orch more. the exact time that it will be 60/40 is a crap shoot. good luck.


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## bugscuz

Swmnhay, I have a 30 acre 3 year old stand of Orchard grass now and it's doing well but I'd like to add Alfalfa to the feild. I live in Western Oregon and we get alot of rain but dry during the summers. I don't get 2nd cuttings and don't irrigate and some say and do get 2nd cuttings with a O/A mix. What would be the best way to seed alfalfa in the existing field. Thanks, Richard.


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## mlappin

bugscuz said:


> What would be the best way to seed alfalfa in the existing field. Thanks, Richard.


No till it in, go a little heavy with the overall rate, but apply half of it on the first pass, then drive 20-30 degrees to the first pass to plant the other half of your rate.


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## bugscuz

mlappin said:


> No till it in, go a little heavy with the overall rate, but apply half of it on the first pass, then drive 20-30 degrees to the first pass to plant the other half of your rate.


OK I like that idea. What # to the acre would be considered "a little heavy". Also in cutting that mix does it have to be cut in the evening?
Thanks, Richard.


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## swmnhay

bugscuz said:


> OK I like that idea. What # to the acre would be considered "a little heavy". Also in cutting that mix does it have to be cut in the evening?
> Thanks, Richard.


I'd go around 20#.Seed it very early in the spring to get it going before the grass takes off.Like mlappin said it would be a good idea criss crossing it if time alows.Hope for a lot of rain to get it going because of the grass compition..

Cut in the evening? We cut when we can HERE.


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## mlappin

Should point something out as well, not sure what drill you're going to use, but I used a Great Plains behind a coulter cart. I had everything set just deep enough to get some clean dirt showing to drop the seed in. When you go to plant your field, if you have to dig at all to find the seed, it's most likely too deep. Least that has been my experience when no tilling alfalfa, seems to work best when all the drill is doing is cleaning a strip so the seed can sit in clean dirt, then hope for rain after seeding.


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