I bought a bag of alfalfa. Now what?

So I spent some quality time in the feed section of the farm store yesterday and came away with a 50-lb bag of alfalfa cubes. Now what do I do? Do I just put them dry into the compost bin? Do I soak them and make a big ol' alfalfa slurry and then pour that in the compost bin?

I'm trying to get my compost moving a little bit. Granted, it's still thawing out from winter, but right now there's an overload of browns in there.

Hi Twonewfs, If we were in the same state, I'd think we passed one another in the ag store. I dragged DH to the store and we came away with alfalfa, green sand, worm castings. I wanted very much to get the seaweed compost and crab shell compost, but there wasn't enough room in the car for everything. I used to be more interested in the latest strappy sandals and hand bags, now I've got this obsession for soil amenders. Oh, I posted in Soulgarden's compost thread #2 yesterday about the same subject, "what I do now that I have it?" Susan hasn't responded yet.

With beef prices the way they are, you could feed them to a steer and have steak for a year! : )

I wonder if the steer would stand for it, one steak per day for a year.

You could make wonderful alfalfa tea for your plants and then tip the leftover slurry in the compost bin.

Soak some in a bucket. It will expand...alot! Then add it to the compost. If you add it to the pile first and then wet it down it will expand and you may end up with too much of a great thing! LOL I discovered that the hard way.

Thanks much everyone! I'm oddly excited to play with alfalfa. Almost makes looking like a moron walking around the feed store worth it!

Your in good company!!! LOL

Twonewfs...years ago I spoke with a commercial worm grower about using alfalfa tas worm food in my vermiculture bins. He told me to purchase the powdered form without oil. Unfortunately I never asked the question of why no oil, but if you plan to introduce or expect worms to come to your outdoor compost bin this might be a consideration. I would think that the powdered form would decompose more readily than the pellet form which I believe is intended for animal feed. Just a thought!

Does anybody know for sure if Alfalfa pellets are bunny food? I was also told at the same time that mice will eat them, so not to store them over winter. I was told this a couple decades ago, and for that reason don't bring them in. I always buy the meal.

But I would like to know if the people telling me all this knew what they were talking about. :)

Suzy

Yes mice will eat them, and corn, bird feed, grain, and twinkies, no doubt.

All kinds of critters eat alfalfa pellets, mice, rabbits, rats, horses, cows, goats.... and Worms!

Illoquin, I don't have the pellets, just because the ag salesman said it would be easier to control the amount put in the beds using the meal over pellets, but Soulgardenlove on her soil & compost threads swears by them. She says her worms love the pellets. I don't know how much oil is in the pellets, but they are made for animals like bunnies, goats, horses who would normally not consume oil, so how much can it be?

I'm not worried about the oil as much as I am worried about feeding the garden varmints, I'd like to get RID of, a preferred food. :)) Somehting strikes me as "not right" about that. Also, they would be hard for me to store over winter. I don't really have any mouse-free zones here, except in the house.

Suzy

Suzy,

You could always store it in a waste can. I have a special metal can that I bought just for the bird seed because I didn't want any bugs that might be in it to get into the house. A large unused plastic or metal can could be used for you alfalfa. You could store it in the garage or outside. Metal might be better since squirrels can chew through plastic - I had that happen with a previous bird seed can.

A mouse chewed thru one DH had corn stored in.

I was really excited to get alfalfa to build lasagne beds after reading so much about it's soil building properties. I asked for pellets at the ag store, but the salesman recommended meal over pellets, saying it would be easier to control the amount I was using. It sounded reasonable, so that's what I got. We just moved into a new house and don't have a wheel barrow or lawn tractor yet, so I had to drag the sack about 50 feet to my garden. I didn't want to open the bag in the garage because the meal is like powder. It blew around even in light wind, and I had to use a dust mask to scoop it onto the beds. Since I'm just starting to build beds, there was no way I could have used the whole bag at once. It's amazing how much volume there is in 50 lbs of alfalfa meal. I had to mix it into the bed like cake mix so it wouldn't blow away--it's that fine a material. I'm not sure how much I used, but I'd guess 10 lbs at most. I couldn't summon the energy to haul the remainder back up the hill to the garage, so I taped up the bag and it's still out back. I don't think I'll bring it back inside after I saw how it blew all over the place. Maybe that's why people use pelletized alfalfa--doesn't get in your eyes, nose and lungs as much, easier to use by the bucket full rather than hauling the whole bag, can be broadcasted into or onto the beds, doesn't blow around or away as easily. If I was going to do this again, and I'm almost sure I won't, I definitely would have purchased the pellets.

When buying any meals or pellets read the label and specifically look for the salt content. If it is there do not use it. Animals like salt and thrive on it. Gardens do not like salt and over time get sick from its use. It can be purchased with no added salt content.

Pam, That's a good thought on meal vs pellets.

Penne, I know, and I probably have a metal can around here (being used to store something else, no doubt), but you know how it is... only so much storage space, only so much money, and I have so many bags and bags of organics...I've been using them going on 3 decades now, and the Farm Bureau coop stocks them all in some gigantic bags...some of them compare to the size of a couple King-size pillows. I'm always afraid at the beginning of the season to reach in those big bags -- ya never know who or what might be hiding, or living, inside!! If I had the money, I would have about 7 of them lined up one after another with a pretty handpainted nametag for what goes in there: Alfalfa meal, Milorganite, Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Corn Gluten, Corn Meal, Rock Phos, Green Sand, ooops, I'd need 8 cans :) Wouldn't that be cool? Oh, I would LOVE it...each with an antique cast aluminum scoop. My pretty garden gloves would ale hanging above on little square nails and with a skien of raffia to tie up my plants... Insitead I have ugly plastic bags, and I always stumble and spill at least one, and my tools are stuffed in there with the tines of the rake all bent out of shape...I can never find a pair of matching garden gloves, and the whole can idea is just a dream.

Suzy

Suzy, I can see it as you describe it, with the morning sun streaming in through the little window, lighting up the cans of potting soils and amendments like actors on a stage; pretty little gardening gloves, well used but with nary an unsightly hole or stain; a huge skien of flowing raffia, as much as one might use with total abandon in one season; freshly sharpened tools, not a one showing rust or caked on soil, even after years of noble service; and pots--pots all tidy and stacked in rows by size from small to large, awaiting the gardener's call to duty. Everything in such perfect order.

Dream on!

There is no oil in the meals where as pellets are manufactured animal feed and may contain small amounts of oil. If it were in the pellets it would still likely be of no concern to gardeners.
We regularly add fish oil from cold processed fish as a great soil building ammendment. We also use Neem Oil as an insecticide, miticide and mild fungicide. These oils are all biodegradable.