alfalfa meal

[stonysoilseeds]

i had good results top dressing my tomatoes with alfalfa meal and then coveringg them with oat straw i buy from a local true value. i believe it creates an excellent enviroment for the micro organisms to build up organic matter quickly..in addition i foliar spray my tomatoes and peppers 3 times during the season with a seaweed spray other times i ferment some weeds and comfrey and foliar spray the plants with it

[Tracydr]

I do this too, although I use pellets ( for horses, made with molasses but salt free) and just soake them real good, until they expand. I also use kelp spray.
I don't have comfrey but have been looking for some. I might wait until I move, not so sure it would do well here in AZ.

[Hastings]

How thickly can you apply alfalfa pellets (animal feed pellets) if you use them as a fertilizer? I am in an unusual situation currently and have access to as much as I want. How much should I use?

[Tracydr]

I killed my peppers one year with alfalfa pellets because my husband left the water in shortly after I made a huge pile of them all around the bed. Of course, we had a sudden heat wave, well above 110 at the same time. Let's just say that wet alfalfa gets real hot when in a large pile. It's a good composter.
That said, I now use a pound or two per plant and soak it first so that it expands. Also, I prefer to put it on before it starts getting hot. Haven't had any further problems.
The areas that I've applied alfalfa pellets heavily a couple of year's ago-the soil looks like worm compost! And, that's with starting with heavy, pale clay, the worst soil you can possibly imagine!
I use a lot of horse manure too but if I had to choose and had unlimited amounts, I'd take the alfalfa cubes made with molasses. Although, I think manure had its own nutrients that it brings to the table, too.
Anyway, I'd use 1-2 pounds per plant but during fall/winter, if you have that much, pile it on and till the stuff in! As much as you can get, go for it! I put 500 lbs in a 20x12 area and can see a huge difference now. It's an amazing soil conditioner. I think, when I could get it at $7.00/80 lb bag it was well worth it, much more valuable than crappy big box compost.
Now that alfalfa has gone way up in price, I'm much more conservative with it.
I do bed my chickens with alfalfa hay so when I clean the coop and compost it, that's some seriously nice stuff. And, my horses eat only alfalfa so their manure is really nice, plus, mixed with hay scraps.

[Hastings]

Seriously jealous of your poop. It's terrible that I want to raise chickens just for their manure. The eggs would just be a bonus.

[ddsack]

Good advice to be careful of the amount of pellets you use. I generously added dried alfalfa meal ( I assume that's what pellets are made of eventually) to my collection of potted tomatoes last year, and they started keeling over. Two had such damaged roots I threw them away, the rest I managed to save by repotting them into a less rich mixture. When I dumped the offending soil out, it had the sour smell just like fresh cow manure. This same stuff added to my in-ground garden did not have the same effect. I suppose without the pot wall barriers, it was able to leach further away from the plants, or the roots could grow away from it, or maybe the worms made a beeline for it. If I use it in pots again, I will top dress, not mix it in like I did, and use much less.

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by Hastings

Seriously jealous of your poop.

haha


Ok immature I know

[Tania]

I am using alfalfa meal in my garden this year, mixed with rock phosphate, gypsum, and dolomitic lime. Alfalfa meal is $11 per 20 kg bag here in Vancouver area, which is not too bad!

I use about 16 cups / 100 sq. ft., as recommended in http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...ur-Garden.aspx

I also have a bag of alfalfa cubes and I plan to make alfalfa tea later.

Dee, how much did you add to your container mix? I have not tried adding it into my containers, not yet...

[ddsack]

Way too much, Tania! I didn't really measure, but I was using a large plastic coffee container as a scoop, and probably dumped at least two coffee cans per each 10 gallon container and mixed it in well. If a little is good, more must be better, right? And it's all organic, right? Since I already use old manure in my containers, it was a poor idea. Now that I think about it, my husband did mention he thought I was overdoing it. The alfalfa meal is powder dry and I did not expect it to still be as active as a raw green grass, but it heated up my pots in the same way. My poor tomatoes were probably sitting in fresh cooking compost! I have no idea what amount might be suitable for a pot, maybe a cup lightly dug in on top? And I do wonder if alfalfa pellets are a bit different, and the binder material and more ground up stemmy material that is not as high in nitrogen as the pure meal?

[Tracydr]

Alfalfa hay is notorious for getting hot when wet. If baled too wet it can burn your barn down!
The pellets will also get hot when wet.
A little goes a long way, although its inexpensive and if building a new garden in the fall, you could add a ton to increase organic matter. Just till it in and let it sit all winter. The worms go crazy rover it!

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Hastings

Seriously jealous of your poop. It's terrible that I want to raise chickens just for their manure. The eggs would just be a bonus.

Yeah, they eat almost every kitchen scrap. They eat all the alfafa leaves. Then, two or three times a year I clean out the coop and make compost. A lot of it goes to tea.
What poop doesn't get in the coop is ontop of the lemon trees, a pine and palm tree so they are also fertilized.
They are also great weed eaters. I feed them wild mustard weeds and they turn it into eggs and fertilizer!

[stonysoilseeds]

i just bought my alfalfa meal cost $22.00 per 0 lb sack i was sorry to hear that the grain mill where i bought it from will be closing shop on monday due to bad economy.. has anyone ever used alfalfa meal as a foliar spray .. i was thinking of making a tea from it and let it ferment for 3 or 4 days and use it a a foliar spray.. like i do with sea weed was wondering if anyone else from tv has tried this thanks

[stonysoilseeds]

sorry $22.00 per 50 lb sack

[Got Worms?]

Stony, $22. seems a bit high priced. I bought from TSC and paid $11 and change, maybe $12 . Also try Agway.

EDIT: upon reflection and realization; This price is for pellets, but they work just as good as meal.

[Got Worms?]

I too, thought of a foliar application, possible strained and diluted. maybe even mixed with my next batch of compost tea.
Charlie