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Post by smsmith on Sept 29, 2017 20:12:13 GMT -6
I'm thinking ahead to next year already.
The plot near my house has been in brassicas of some sort for 4 years now and I think I'm getting a build up of bugs and/or disease of some sort. I need to rotate out of brassicas for awhile.
Can I plant alfalfa in August and use oats as a cover crop? I've got loads of clover already (too much probably) and would like to experiment with an alfalfa plot near the house.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Sept 29, 2017 20:26:30 GMT -6
Sure can buddy! The oats will self terminate over the winter and you should have a great stand of alfalfa the next year! Go For It!
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Post by smsmith on Sept 29, 2017 20:29:43 GMT -6
Sure can buddy! The oats will self terminate over the winter and you should have a great stand of alfalfa the next year! Go For It! Thanks Mo. The oats dying over winter (and providing some food/draw during fall) was what I was figuring. Would Travois be a decent choice for a grazing alfalfa (if I can find seed by the lb. anyway)? |
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Sept 29, 2017 20:33:41 GMT -6
Sure can buddy! The oats will self terminate over the winter and you should have a great stand of alfalfa the next year! Go For It! Thanks Mo. The oats dying over winter (and providing some food/draw during fall) was what I was figuring. Would Travois be a decent choice for a grazing alfalfa (if I can find seed by the lb. anyway)? Travios was developed in SD and that alfalfa was specifically designed for grazing. Funny you know about it. Nobody I know of carries it around here. You may have to look in SD to find it. |
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Post by smsmith on Sept 29, 2017 20:37:49 GMT -6
I played around with both Travois and Falcata on my and my folks' old places. Travois did better on both sites. I found them both by the pound back then (12 years ago maybe?) but haven't looked for quite awhile.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Sept 29, 2017 21:01:32 GMT -6
I played around with both Travois and Falcata on my and my folks' old places. Travois did better on both sites. I found them both by the pound back then (12 years ago maybe?) but haven't looked for quite awhile. I would think Travois would do better on light soils after being developed from a dryer area. What soils did you have back in scony? I forget. |
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Post by Sandbur on Sept 30, 2017 6:17:06 GMT -6
Is your pH adjusted? Well drained(maybe on that hillside?) for those of us on light soil, boron and sulfur are also important, but you are not on light soil.
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Post by smsmith on Sept 30, 2017 6:39:25 GMT -6
I played around with both Travois and Falcata on my and my folks' old places. Travois did better on both sites. I found them both by the pound back then (12 years ago maybe?) but haven't looked for quite awhile. I would think Travois would do better on light soils after being developed from a dryer area. What soils did you have back in scony? I forget. The soil on my place and my folks' place were almost complete opposites. I had a beautiful, deep silt loam with around a 6.4 native ph. My folks' place was a desert...deep, infertile, acidic soil. |
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Post by smsmith on Sept 30, 2017 6:42:15 GMT -6
Is your pH adjusted? Well drained(maybe on that hillside?) for those of us on light soil, boron and sulfur are also important, but you are not on light soil. I haven't adjusted ph anywhere here. I need to get some soil testing done, but I'm betting native ph here is running over 6. The soil on the plot I'm talking about is well drained, the area is the base of the hill and is comprised of a small ridge basically. "Wild" alfalfa pops up in my clover plots and does well. |
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Post by wildfire123 on Sept 30, 2017 9:33:51 GMT -6
Alfalfa likes a ph of 7.
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Post by smsmith on Sept 30, 2017 9:43:15 GMT -6
Ya, I know. I'm not growing it for ag production though. I'm guessing it will grow more than adequately to feed a few deer with a ph in the low to mid 6s. |
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Post by Sandbur on Sept 30, 2017 10:39:19 GMT -6
Cheapskate that I am, I would use a cheap alfalfa if I only expected it to last a few years as conditions are not ideal.
Your conditions are probably much better than mine.
I have wondered if that difference is part of why my apple trees grow in different forms.
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