New alfalfa grower

[fishingchip55]

After getting my ph correct and with my soil sample did everything that it suggested I planted the bulldog 805 on September 12. It has come up very good but I'm wondering what to expect as far as growth between now and the first freeze. Thanks

 

[jam]

Nothing if you fertilized with low nitrogen fertilizer. I treat it like clover until late spring early summer at which time I
mow it a couple times between then and fall. may want to fertilize again late spring depending on soil. Spray for weeds and grass if necessary late spring.

 

[fishingchip55]

Ok, thanks. Will it get big enough to hunt over this year.

 

[jam]

Depends on weather, but if you have a good stand and you put some wheat or other grain with it I will bet it will be the most used food patch. Several years ago I planted half in grain and the other half in alfalfa mixed with chicory. Deer would walk over grain side to get to the alfalfa. I tried different mixtures with it, but now I basically put about 10 pounds of chicory to 50 pounds of alfalfa seed. I drill my oats and wheat in with the alfalfa and chicory top dressed(small seed box) and cultipack behind. The grain allows the alfalfa and chicory to get established. On our sandy soil is grows faster than clover this time of year. Biggest issue I have is our deer keeps it eaten down.

 

[rstallings1979]

Just curious. I think alfalfa fields are beautiful fields but I hunt near an Alfalfa field in Illinois and to this date I have never seen a deer grazing in it. Granted I am there usually after corn harvest so they are eating corn and chasing does but it is strange that I have never seen a deer in the field in my 10 years of being in the area. Is alfalfa really high on the list of food a deer would prefer?

 

[jam]

It is at our place, they will eat it year round. I plant grain, clover, chicory and during summer I plant alyce clover in a couple areas. Always have deer in the alfalfa patches year round.

 

[No peekin]

When hunting Kansas they love alfalfa, can’t speak for Georgia though.

 

[Ihunt]

Imo, alfalfa is the best food plot you can plant but it is a moody and finicky plant.
It needs lots of potassium and the ph needs to not only be good but be good deep down where alfalfa will put its roots. I know people who have 12 acre fields of it here in middle Georgia that never have to mow it because the deer keep it mowed down.

 

[fishingchip55]

Jam
I started to drill oats and wheat and then come back with the alfalfa in the grass seed box but everything I read said alfalfa didn't like the competition. I wonder if it would hurt to broadcast some oats in with it at this point. The alfalfa is 2 to 3 inches, maybe a little taller now.

 

[jam]

Jam
I started to drill oats and wheat and then come back with the alfalfa in the grass seed box but everything I read said alfalfa didn't like the competition. I wonder if it would hurt to broadcast some oats in with it at this point. The alfalfa is 2 to 3 inches, maybe a little taller now.

I plant the grain to give the alfalfa and chicory time to get established due to the feeding pressure at our place. I been planting alfalfa for the last 10-12 years and our deer will eat it up if I dont put something else with it allowing time to get going. I reduce my grain seed rate about 50% from just a grain plot when putting with the alfalfa. What I like about alfalfa and clover is it last thru the year, clover dies out with summer heat but the alfalfa is a food source year round once established. If you get a good stand plot will last for 3-5 years if you mow and spray for grass and weeds if you problems with it. If yours is that big and a good stand(on thick side) you may be fine. If you decide to broadcast some grain, I would go with wheat right ahead of a rain. Wheat will germinate on top of ground with moisture, oats have never done real well in that setting for me.

 

[fishingchip55]

Ok, thanks for the help. I'll plan on doing that if we ever get any rain.

 

[Big7]

It's very high in protein.

They will come to it hard especially if there are no natural mast in the area that's not covered by a high protein AG crop. It's not that Alfalfa is the most palatable thing on the menu, it's that they know they HAVE to eat it for a good source of protein. Mature, it's not easy for Deer to digest and they won't eat it as much. Your mileage may vary.

A guy next to me in Jefferson County planted long strips. By long, I mean all the way past the horizon but it would only be one drill wide evey few hundred feet. He rotated p- nuts in with the other crops too for more protein. We usually did different things but always had Sunflower because nobody around there had Sunflower.

The Alfalfa was more like a support browse rather than the staple but it might be different where you are.

 

[davidhelmly]

I plant the grain to give the alfalfa and chicory time to get established due to the feeding pressure at our place. I been planting alfalfa for the last 10-12 years and our deer will eat it up if I dont put something else with it allowing time to get going. I reduce my grain seed rate about 50% from just a grain plot when putting with the alfalfa. What I like about alfalfa and clover is it last thru the year, clover dies out with summer heat but the alfalfa is a food source year round once established. If you get a good stand plot will last for 3-5 years if you mow and spray for grass and weeds if you problems with it. If yours is that big and a good stand(on thick side) you may be fine. If you decide to broadcast some grain, I would go with wheat right ahead of a rain. Wheat will germinate on top of ground with moisture, oats have never done real well in that setting for me.

When you’ve been planting alfalfa the last 10-12 years, are you saying that you replant it every year?

 

[jam]

When you’ve been planting alfalfa the last 10-12 years, are you saying that you replant it every year?

I got different age groups growing, I plant 1/2 to 1 acre strips or half of a plot if the patch is small. They last 3-5 years depending on seasons. Each year I try to establish new ones so that when the older ones play out I will have new ones established. I normally will plant something different in the ones that play out for year or two. Basically do a rotation. I like to start new patches each year so I can do the rotation and keep some growing all the time. I hope this explains. I have over seeded a 1 year old patch that didnt have a good stand to try and get 3 years out of it.

 

[davidhelmly]

I got different age groups growing, I plant 1/2 to 1 acre strips or half of a plot if the patch is small. They last 3-5 years depending on seasons. Each year I try to establish new ones so that when the older ones play out I will have new ones established. I normally will plant something different in the ones that play out for year or two. Basically do a rotation. I like to start new patches each year so I can do the rotation and keep some growing all the time. I hope this explains. I have over seeded a 1 year old patch that didnt have a good stand to try and get 3 years out of it.

Sounds like a good idea.

 

[Ihunt]

Over seeding alfalfa does not work. Alfalfa puts out a chemical that kills young plants. Some studies suggest letting a plot sit for a year before replanting alfalfa back into a plot.

 

[sportsman94]

Over seeding alfalfa does not work. Alfalfa puts out a chemical that kills young plants. Some studies suggest letting a plot sit for a year before replanting alfalfa back into a plot.

Does this mean weeds aren’t a factor for alfalfa management once it’s established? Or does it just affect some plants. Sorry, I know very little about alfalfa and had no idea it had allelopathic properties

 

[doomtrpr_z71]

Does this mean weeds aren’t a factor for alfalfa management once it’s established? Or does it just affect some plants. Sorry, I know very little about alfalfa and had no idea it had allelopathic properties

No, its autotoxic so it inhibits its self not other species.

 

[Ihunt]

Does this mean weeds aren’t a factor for alfalfa management once it’s established? Or does it just affect some plants. Sorry, I know very little about alfalfa and had no idea it had allelopathic propertie

Doom covered it.

 

[fishingchip55]

My alfalfa is doing pretty well I guess but have a question. This is a 3 acre field and has alfalfa covering but has some small low growing weeds mixed in. All the larger weeds were killed by frost. The deer are feeding on it every day, sometimes 3 or 4, sometimes 10 or 15. The alfalfa is still only 2 to 3 inches tall because of all the browsing.
My question is should I spray the small weeds with 2-4-db now or wait until spring.