Vernal Alfalfa

Establishment
Use a soil test measure as a guide to check your pH and nutrient status several months before seeding. Apply lime and fertilizer as needed. Your pH levels should be 6.5-7.0.

An ideal soil bed is moist, fertile and firm. Alfalfa prefers crumbly silt loam to sandy loam textures but alfalfa will grow well on most deep, well-drained soils with adequate internal and surface drainage. Alfalfa will die if the soil is saturated for an extended period.

Plowing will result in a clean, firm seedbed, but you have to plant when the soil is not too dry or too wet. Plowing may bring rocks to the surface and the field would be more subject to soil erosion.

Discing or harrowing requires less time than plowing/tilling, but may not rid the seedbed of weed seeds, diseased plant parts or herbicide residues.

No-till seeding can be completed on a wider range of soil conditions and rocks are left below the surface and the field is far less susceptible to soil erosion. You also save time, fuel and power requirements

Plant alfalfa 1/4"to 1/2" deep on medium to heavy textured soils and plant at least 1/2" on sandy soils either in the spring or late summer-early fall.

Management
For maximum yields, it is important to have 20-30 plants per square foot during the seedling year for protection against weed competition. Do not harvest alfalfa seeded in late summer until the following spring. Allow new seedlings to start to bloom before the first harvest. Cut alfalfa three-four times a year when stand is 25% flowered.

FROST DAMAGE INFORMATION:

1. If plants appeared to have died, wait 3-5 days after frost and re-examine plants.

2. At least one set of leaves must have escaped frost damage for the plant to survive. If there are at least 20 plants per square foot, the stand will survive in good shape. If there are 15 or less plants, topseeding alfalfa (if stand was planted the fall prior) is recommended. (if stand is 1+ years old, rotate in another crop to avoid alfalfa autotoxicity.)

3. If less than 30% of stem tops show wilting/browning, do nothing, enough stems remain to provide good growth, first cutting may have yield reduction, but should recover well by the second cutting.

4. If most of the stem tops are damaged and less than 10" tall-do nothing. There will no advantage at this height to mowing. If stand is 12" or taller, mow existing top growth. The growing points may have been killed, but the plant will form new buds at the lower points. The first cutting will be delayed and there will be some yield loss, but recovery should occur.

5. If all stems on a plant are frozen back to the ground, the plant is dead.