what's so great about alfalfa pellets?

Seriously, what do they contain that is so helpful and what do they do? Also, what likes them a lot? Roses? Azaleas? Perennials? or Annuals?

hiya woodspirit,

While the NPK of alfalfa isn't all that impressive to folks used to synthetics, do a google on triconatol, a plant growth regulator that is found in some abundance in alfalfa. Trace minerals are also found in abundance in alfalfa. It is sometimes called 'land kelp' because of this abundance.

hope this answers some questions.
don

thanks don, I will look it up now. Been gone to town to a thrift shop and bought windows for the greenhouse my husband is building. I never thought I could afford one, but he is very innovative and it's coming along great.

woodspirit ~~ Grab a cup of coffee one morning, or whatever you prefer in the evening, when you have a couple minutes to read a fairly long thread....over on the roses forum we have been having a LONG discussion on Alfalfa, Alfalfa Tea, and many issues surrounding its use and benefits....here is the link:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/533173/

Hope that helps!!
Jamie

Thanks Jamie68

That is a great thread. I can't wait to try some of the suggestions

BronxBoy

Hi BronxBoy! I have learned so much from that thread, I just had to pass it on..:)

Let me know what results you get next season. I love to hear what others in gardens across the country are experiencing!

Jamie

I enjoyed your discussion about alfalfa on this string. I am a firm believer in that stuff for my Hosta garden. I mix a 50lb bag of hosta meal with a equel amount of sawdust in my compost tumblers. That combination really gets hot very very fast. To that I add maybe 2 bushels of grass clippings over the next couple of weeks. In Missouri Ozarks I can get finished compost from May thru September about every 4 weeks. Many of my hosta are planted almost pure compost.

These Ozarks are known to be one of the hardest places in the country to grow grass. Knowing the effects of alfalfa on my plants I am going to experiment with the meal on the lawn. I am going to put some meal in a lawn spreader and run a small test area and see if the trace elements in Alfalfa effect the soil and grass in that area.

Thanks Jamie:

I do have a question that you might be able to answer. I'm in Georgia, about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. The daytime temps are anywhere from the 30's to the 60s and it can get as cold as freezing in the evening.

Can I make AT under these conditions

Thanks

Hi BronxBoy ~~
I had a couple thoughts as soon as I read your post above. First - I only use AT during the growing season, as it is quite a pick-me-up for the plants, helping them to absorb nutrients much better, and causing growth to spring forth...LOL I am sure you can make the tea during the spring, summer, early fall - but now is probably to late in the season to use it. I plant a LOT in the fall and winter, and dig the pellets into every planting hole, and new bed I dig, but I only use the tea during active growth......does that help at all?? I guess my answer is 'I don't know' if you can make it right now...microbial activity being slowed, or halted due to the temps you mentioned. But that's OK, because your weather in the growing season would be perfect to alfalfa tea brewing - probably better than mine...LOL :-)

If that didn't help at all, let me know....I am not sure if I answered your question well. I will be back online this eve., and will try again if necessary!

Have a great day!
Jamie

Jamie:

I still have a few rows of cold crops in the ground like cabbage, turnips collards, kale etc. We've only been here a year so the soil is not where it needs to be. and as a result things in a few beds are growing rather slowly. I was just going to use what was grown and chuck everything else so I can prepare these particular beds for next season.

My wife is not having any of that though so I agreed not to touch them until they got a little bigger. Figured the tea might help spring them along.

In the thread you recommended, I noticed that some folks add different types of ingredients such as fish emulsion and epson salts. I use fish emulsion but have never thought of Epsom salts as a gardening tool. Have you used it?
What's the benefits?

Thanks
Brennan

Howdy Brennan, and a hearty WELCOME TO DG!

Your cole crops are growing slow due to the temps you mentioned above; they'll easily live thru those temps but growth rate is naturally slow with lower temps and shorter days.

Since you want vegetative growth from those crops you may want to try a high nitrogen foliar spray and/or drench. Blood meal/dried blood is very high in nitrogen and will be made quickly available to your plants. Fish emulsion, although not nearly as high in N ass blood meal, is easily obtainable and is a great source as a "booster" for your plants. If you mix in kelp with it that will also help your plants to handle the cold temps much better also.

If you have row covers you can cover your crops with during those freezing temps that will also help growth to continue by trapping in the days heat and holding it in the ground, keep the roots warm and also encouraging the microbial activity (as well as that of the earthworms). Not sure how big your cole crop garden is but if fairly small then old sheets will act as row covers as long as they don't get too heavy from rains/ice that they weigh down the plants and break them.

I'm right there with ya this year, studying my collard plants hoping they gain some size soon! Love dem collard greens!

Jamie, LOVE the pic on your homepage showing your flowering border. Very pretty! Well done!

Shoe.

Thanks Horseshoe:

This place has been a veritable goldmine. I plan on spending a lot of time here.

Here's a pic of some of my beds. They need a LOT of work. We've only been here a little over a year so it will take some time to get eveything right. I'm really more interested in getting the crops out of there, amending the soil and letting it rest until next year. But nothing doing as far as my wife is concerned.

Looks like a pretty nice garden spot to me! I'm not sure how severe your winters get but it looks like you can harvest from some of those plants all winter long. If the turnips are being grown for their roots then that bed would be a good place to harvest them all and then start incorporating 'good stuff' into it (leaves for example).

One of the best systems of growing to help your clay soil become better textured is to broadcast garden peas in late winter...throw them out like grass seed and till them under. They'll come up and grow close together, blanketing your bed. If you grow Laxton's Progress #9 they will only grow a couple feet tall and there is no need to build trellis supports for them; their close spacing will keep them upright. After you pick all your peas, till under the plants. You can then broadcast bush beans the same way. They will blanket the ground, conserving moisture, protecting the ground from the direct rays of the sun, and also block out weed growth. At his point, when you are tired of picking beans, till under those plants as well.

The leaf matter from the peas and beans will definitely help add tilth and friability to your soil and also those particular plants will add nitrogen also. At this point in the year, you will still have time to plant some brassica crops (brocolli, collards, cabbage, etc). Not only will you have gotten quite a bit of produce from a small space in your garden but you'll end up with much more wonderful soil than what you started out with.

I believe it was one of Dick Raymond's books (don't quote me on that though!) where I first read about this and I've used this technique for over 15 yrs now. It works great!

Again, as for now, I'd turn in leaves or the like. Would also be a good time to send in a soil test to the Ag Dept (usually free in most states) so if you need to sweeten the soil you'll have time for the lime to go to work before later Winter/Spring planting time.

Enjoy!

Hi Bronxboy: hmmmm a NY boy in Atlanta. I used to live in Avondale Estates but was born on Manhattan. My gardening interest grew there when my parents bought a house with a lot of climbing roses on the garage and the railing of the back deck. I will also never forget a retired couple living next door letting me into their basement which was full of old National Geographics. I have been a lifelong subscriber ever since.
I live in the southwest mountains of NC, about 3 hours from you. It is colder here because of the altitude, but I feed my pansies with alfalfa tea. They seem to be responding nicely. I'm not sure how often to use AT though; can someone advise me? I am also using Miracle Grow.

Hi Woodspirit:

Yeah, I left the Bronx when I went to college. Have never lived there since. Bounced around a little and when I was living in NY it was either in Manhattan or Long Island. The most difficult part about selling our house in LI was leaving the soil we had worked on so diligently. I wished I could bring it with us but I don't think our buyers would have appreciated a large crater in the backyard of their new home. LOL

Yes, you are not to fr from me. We haven't been here long but everyone is telling me we should visit the mountains.

How long is your growing season there?

Well, it depends on whether you are down in the valley or in a higher altitude like me, at 3100 feet. I have a hard time getting brugs to bloom here, because it is rainy and cool. But my spousal unit is building a small greenhouse so I will get them started early this year.
The growing season is a little longer now (global warming, I fear) and we have a lot to do from March until Thanksgiving. I remember when we had frost here in September and certainly by October but now it is into November. We picked our last raspberries Nov. 15.
I am constantly looking for shade plants as I have very little area that gets sun for 6 hours or more. Some things surprise how much shade they can take, like pansies and daisies.
So now you are dealing with Ga. red clay, lol. Be careful, it really stains clothes.
A lot of folks from Atlanta come to Highlands, NC. A beautiful small town, upscale tourism mecca. It is the highest incorporated town in the east, at 4100 feet. I live only 20 miles away in Lake Toxway, another upscale area but rather than overnight tourism, it's more summer homes where people stay all summer and into the fall colors in October - November.
Our county is called Transylvania, but is nicknamed "The Land of Waterfalls ." Here is a picture of the tallest falls in the east, Whitewater Falls, right on the NC/SC line. We both claim it, lol.

Horseshoe

With a nic like that i got to ask if you pitch a few shoes and belong to the NHPF.

Woodspirit...tell him more about Transyvania County and he'll move there! Bronxboy, it's a mighty purty place (I spent many yrs with G-parents growing up there). It's definitely worth a day trip there to visit!

ozarkian...Nope. Although I've pitched a few games I'm not an avid pitcher! The name is basically a pen-name for my writings (and for DGers!). How I got it? Well...that's another story! :>)

By the way, a hearty WELCOME TO DG! See you around the site!

I hear the Ozarks are beautiful too. And I don't think the cost of housing is quite as bad as some other areas of the country. When my brother was in the army, he was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood . That was one of the areas that he considered retiring to. However, he chose Wyoming, that cold and windy place. They're getting well below zero temps right now.

woodspirit:

I have been around the Ozarks most of my life. My wifes family were blacksmith pioneers here and established the Baptist church in the region between Steellville and Leasburg Mo. Her great grand uncle rode with qualntrell in the Civil War. Rubbed elbows with the likes of the Jame's and Dalton's. But now days the Ozarks have many many people from all over the country retiring here. There is so much developement going on. As far as reasonable cost of housing it depends on where you are looking. I live on Lake of the Ozarks and anything lake front is no longer reasonable. Wheb you get back from the water thpough you can find some nice things.

Thanks Woodspirit and Ozarkian!!!

I will definetely put a trip to the mountains on our list of things to do..

We actually have very little clay. What we do have is an awful lot of rock. We recieved a very rude surprise after we moved in to our home and found that the septic system was failing. After some investigation, we found that none of the soil on these 3 acres was actually suited for a septic system. After much consulting with the county and about $6 thousand dollars, we got the problem resolved.

Most of our dirt is managable. We have avoided the areas with large slabs of rocks. Our dirt falls into 3 categories: Excellent base that just needs some amedments, Rocky hardpan which is usuable but which dries out easily and very sandy soil.

I am a spousal unit too. LOL. I am also build a greenhouse. I'd like to hear more about your project and compare notes. I got a framing kit from Charley's Greenhouse. Our's is going to be 10x22. I'm going to do the framing this year and enclose it and put the skin on next year. (Mainly because of cost.) Aside from the benefits of the greenhouse, I am looking to gain an understanding of solar power from my greenhouse and eventually translate that knowledge into a system for a home. (We are in the perfect location to take advantage of solar)

I finally found an alfalfa source. It took some doing but I found a store not too far from us. I'm going to load up once I can get out.

I do have a few rose plants that are not doing well. Can you recommend a thread that is pretty much a roses for beginners discussion.

Thanks

Bronx Boy

I have a lot of rock. And some big ones. I think the best thing for you to do is go to your county extension agent and have several soil test done. Tell you a little something about septic systems and rocky soil. Even when they work they do not work. This is a hugh problem in the Ozarks and many places in the country. Even though you do not see anything the water is in the ground and it is trapped It can travel for miles through cracks in rock and come out somewhere else. I know in one of the major springs in southern missouri they found septic traces from from a tiny town over the hills and several miles away. Ground water problem is really national issue.

Hey Bronx Boy, are you by a river to have that kind of land in GA? Sounds like it.. I've got good ol Clay over here and I'm actually less than a crows mile from the river. I'm in the market for a greenhouse kit.. do you have it framed yet?

Hey Woodspirit :)) Gosh that's pretty!! :)


Shoe, is Jan too late in the winter to broadcast this pea seed? My raised beds are fallow right now, but i don't have the best soil as evidenced by my tomaotes that grew there.. but the watermellons loved it (?) Anyway, I do want to put out summer veggies after last frost date and didn't know if it is too late to cover crop them? Where do you get Laxtons Progress #9?
:)

Susan

Also, I have not made tea, but I have "fed" my beds alfalfa since I hear the worms love it and I'm guessing nature makes its own brew down there, but another gardener told me I'm spending money on something that leaves would do as far as feeding the worms...?? but i wonder if there is a benifit to direct casting or does it ahve to be made into tea?

This message was edited Jan 3, 2006 12:23 AM

Susan...I'm not sure when your last frost is in your area but you can plan on sowing the pea seeds 4-6 weeks before your last frost date and do fine. (If you plant too early the seeds just sit there, sometimes either rotting from excess rainfall or getting eaten by birds.)

You should be able to find Laxton's Progress #9 at either a good garden/seed center or most likely at a Feed & Seed store (Southern States comes to mind, if you have those down there). Wyat Quarles (sp?) is one of the major seed suppliers to those places so if any of the local stores buy from them they can easily order some for you I'm sure.

As for direct casting the alfalafa, go for it. I often do that. Throw it out then either till it under or work it under with a rake or shovel. I rely on it as one (sometime the only) of the basic needs in certain areas of the gardens. Using it as a tea will benefit the plants much faster though and I use the tea as a quick pick-me-up if plants look sad or when the need to supplement their nutrition due to various stages of growth (i.e., when plant flower, when fruits begin to form, etc).

Thanks! I do have a seed and feed and will call and see if they have it :)

Susan