# Alfalfa planting preparations



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

It looks like by the end of this week It will be dry enough for me to finally get my alfalfa planted. This is going to be my first time growing alfalfa. The ground was chisel plowed last fall and let lay over the winter, I sprayed paraquat 2 weeks ago to kill a few winter weeds that came up. I have found a 10 foot cultimulcher with the cultivator tines that I can rent. I'm thinking what I should do is run the finishing disc a few times and then run the cultimulcher to level and pack before planting. I'm going to be planting with a 5 foot brillion seeder. Are there any other steps I need to take to ensure I get a good stand?

Is it too late to even be thinking of planting alfalfa here? I was wanting to plant the very end of March or first of April but the weather didn't cooperate. I have decided I'm going to go ahead and plant anyway....just curious of what my chances of it doing well are.

Originally I was going to mix a bushel of oats in with the alfalfa but I'm thinking now as late as it is getting it may be best to leave the oats out as they may burn up in the heat this summer before they would amount to anything. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Hayden


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## brandenburgcattle42 (Sep 6, 2012)

I would worry more about getting the alfalfa rate right than the oats and there are still guys planting alfalfa here in Illinois. Sounds like you got the right Idea. Ypu wanna firm the ground up but still have some loose dirt cause your brillion will firm some more. Here on bean stubble I just run our case ih 330 turbo till then plant right into it with brillion then if too loose still. Pack again. Good luck


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I'm going to plant some alfalfa in the next two days and here I'm wondering if I'm a bit too early.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Teslan, guys are planting here, finally


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Hayden, I think it all depends on the weather. If you get enough moisture, it should roll along pretty good . It's always a crapshoot.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

The chart on the 5 foot brillion seeder I'm using has two settings for alfalfa. One says alfalfa(Mont.) with the highest rate at 19 pounds while the other says alfalfa(Wash.) with the highest rate at 25 pounds. Anybody know what the difference in these two settings are? Also is it necessary to use the cultimulcher with the cultivators up after planting to pack the ground more or since I'm planting with a brillion seeder will it do the job?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Use the larger flow setting for uncoated seed, smaller flow setting for coated. I would check the calibration with your seed as you can download that operators manual off the Brillion website if you do not have one, and it explains how to calibrate for your seed.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Well I got one field of alfalfa planted today but it rained before I could get the other field next to it planted. It didn't get dry enough to start working ground until yesterday evening. I figured with the chance of rain earlier this afternoon I might not have time to get both fields planted so I decided to finish one before starting the other. The field that I didn't get planted I had just finished disking and was getting ready to run the cultimulcher and it started raining. When it dries back up am I going to have to disk it again since it rained or can I still just use the cultimulcher to put the finishing touch and then plant?

The field I planted I ran the cultimulcher once with the cultivators down and it seemed pretty firm so I then planted with the brillion seeder. After seeding I noticed that there was quite a bit of seed on top of the ground....is this normal? I decided to run the cultimulcher once more but with the cultivators up to maybe punch some more of the seed in the ground.....I hope this didn't hurt anything.

The little 5 foot brillion seeder sows a maximum rate of right at 20 pounds per acre. The seed did have a coating on it. I'm going to have some extra seed since I was shooting for about 25 pounds per acre to ensure a thick stand.....I hope 20 pounds is going to be enough.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

FarmerCline said:


> Well I got one field of alfalfa planted today but it rained before I could get the other field next to it planted. It didn't get dry enough to start working ground until yesterday evening. I figured with the chance of rain earlier this afternoon I might not have time to get both fields planted so I decided to finish one before starting the other. The field that I didn't get planted I had just finished disking and was getting ready to run the cultimulcher and it started raining. When it dries back up am I going to have to disk it again since it rained or can I still just use the cultimulcher to put the finishing touch and then plant?
> 
> The field I planted I ran the cultimulcher once with the cultivators down and it seemed pretty firm so I then planted with the brillion seeder. After seeding I noticed that there was quite a bit of seed on top of the ground....is this normal? I decided to run the cultimulcher once more but with the cultivators up to maybe punch some more of the seed in the ground.....I hope this didn't hurt anything.
> 
> The little 5 foot brillion seeder sows a maximum rate of right at 20 pounds per acre. The seed did have a coating on it. I'm going to have some extra seed since I was shooting for about 25 pounds per acre to ensure a thick stand.....I hope 20 pounds is going to be enough.


WE notill but did use a seeder like that many years ago . Seed could be on top because some of the rollers were not able to push the seed into the ground , maybe because it was uneven or rocky or not enough loose ground .If you ran the cultimulcher preplant you would think the field was ready to plant . hope the cultimulcer got all covered on the final pass


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

endrow said:


> WE notill but did use a seeder like that many years ago . Seed could be on top because some of the rollers were not able to push the seed into the ground , maybe because it was uneven or rocky or not enough loose ground .If you ran the cultimulcher preplant you would think the field was ready to plant . hope the cultimulcer got all covered on the final pass


 I'm not sure why the seeds didn't get covered better. This is one of only two places I farm that have few to no rocks. I think the ground was level enough that the rollers were makings good contact with the soil most everywhere.....you could see the indentations the rollers made very well. I was very pleased the way the cultimulcher leveled the field up after the disc.....to start with I think I had the cultivators set too deep though as they left a little furrow. I raised the cultivators and it seemed to cure that problem. The little furrows gave the ground on the few first rounds a corrugated look but it wasn't rough enough that you could tell it riding on the tractor but I did have to go slow over this section to keep the little seeder from bouncing. There was just as much seed on top of the ground in that section as the rest of the field so I don't think it's from being too rough. By packing it after planting it put a lot more of the seed in the ground but not all.


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## brandenburgcattle42 (Sep 6, 2012)

Here is a field we planted excellent seed soil contact all alfalfa up in 8 days thanks to a small shower. You have to have thw ground worked nice. As you se the 330 turbo till does what we want.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

brandenburgcattle42 said:


> Here is a field we planted excellent seed soil contact all alfalfa up in 8 days thanks to a small shower. You have to have thw ground worked nice. As you se the 330 turbo till does what we want.


 Did one pass with the turbo till make that nice of a seed bed? If so I need one of those.....4 passes with my disk didn't leave the ground that nice.


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## brandenburgcattle42 (Sep 6, 2012)

FarmerCline said:


> Did one pass with the turbo till make that nice of a seed bed? If so I need one of those.....4 passes with my disk didn't leave the ground that nice.


yes one pass. Also we pull it 10mph. Working ground roughly 2" we traded our disc in and never wanna own one again. We have also use as a finish tool ahead of corn.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

It dried up enough yesterday for me to get my other field of alfalfa planted. I decided it needed to be disked again as I wasn't pleased with the smoothness of the field. I didn't get it quite as I would like it but I got it decent enough for the brillion to make good soil contact and not bounce much. I swear my disk seems to make the ground rougher in places. I tried to let the cultivators on the cultimulcher go down enough to help level the soil out but if they were down more than scratching the top it would leave furrows behind the cultivators which made things worse. The brillion seeder still left some seed on the top of the ground. I'm thinking the little 5 foot seeder does not have enough weight to punch the seeds in. I packed the ground firm but not hard before planting. I'm excited to now be growing alfalfa....I think I'm going to like it. I just hope I get a good stand to come up.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

Good call on running the mulcher after seeding. We always ran our mulcher before and after. Even when no-tilling, we an the mulcher afterwards. Really ensures good seed to soil contact. I wouldn't worry much about seed still on top. Better too shallow than too deep.


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

If you don't see a few seeds on top when planting alfalfa you're planting too deep.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Well I must have done something right as I noticed this evening the field I planted Friday has started coming up and it looks like I'm going to have a good stand. At first I though damn there are already weeds coming up as I never thought about the alfalfa being up already but then I noticed the whole field was uniform like that and I looked closer it it was the alfalfa indeed. The field had 0.35 inch of rain immediately after planting Friday.


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## brandenburgcattle42 (Sep 6, 2012)

Its a good feeling. Its our first year with our brillion and i know weather has the ultimate foot in the game but the stuff we planted look soo good it is very exciting to finally have a goos stand of hay


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