Alfalfa and clover

[tdawgcj7]

This spring I’m putting in my first perennial plot for early bow season. I’m thinking an alfalfa clover blend. Any lessons learned that could be shared would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the blend I’m thinking about doing with seeds from my local store.


20% Medium Red Clover
20% Ladino Clover
20% White Dutch Clover
20% Berseem Clover
20% Vernal Alfalfa

The plot is < 1 acre. Last year I did a no till there with winter rye and some other random seeds. I did broadcast 12-12-12. Eve thing came in good.

I have a JD25 horse and 5’ tiller. I have have a sprayer, roller and drag harrow.

I don’t have a cultipacker :-(

Justin

 

[BobinCt]

My advice is to plant your perennials in the Fall with a cover crop such as Oats, Rye or whatever you prefer. But prior to that, take a soil sample and make sure your PH is good enough to even consider a perennial . Try to get it in the 6.5-7 range. You have a mix with alfalfa and that’s very picky when it comes to PH and establishment. Why not plant it in the Spring you might be saying? My answer is that the weeds are much harder to deal with.

 

[scott44]

I would add some chicory also.

 

[buckdeer1]

alfalfa can be a great crop or a very picky crop,mine was great for 2 years then clover started taking over so I changed it to clover,the issue with chicory is it limits what you can spray for grass control

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

If you have a sprayer and a roller your good to go.

Here is what I would do. Let the rye get about waist high and broadcast your seed into it while it is standing. Take your roller and flatten it. Spray with 2 quarts of gly. Let nature do the rest. Oh, I would never plant clover or alfalfa without chicory. If it were me i'd shoot for at least 1/4 of the total plot to be in chicory. It will use up the N and help keep weeds down. Deer by me also prefer it over clover.

 

[yoderjac]

I find alfalfa is a much tougher crop to grow and it pretty much fills the same niche as clover. Personally, I wouldn't bother adding it to the mix based on cost/benefit, but it certainly won't hurt anything if that is what you want to do. You are mixing types of clover. You have an annual, a short-lived perennial, and two long-lived perennials. If you insist on planting in the spring, this is not a bad way to do it. The berseem (annual) should take off quickly and hopefully take up a little space that weeds would use while the others try to establish. This is the "theory" that Whitetail Institute claims they use when they put a small amount of their great improved perennial varieties in a bag with a lot of inexpensive Berseem annual clover. In reality, it is more of a marketing approach to let them sell their seed for a very high cost.

As others have said, waiting until fall and planting with a Winter Rye cover crop is a much better way to establish perennial clover. The WR is the archery season attractant. It is a nurse crop for the clover. With this approach you don't need the Berseem and can increase your Ladino and Dutch.

Here is my recommendation. Raise your JD tiller so it is barely touching the tip inch of soil. When you are done tilling the field should look more green than brown. You can move fast. You are just trying to lightly disrupt some of the vegetation and get a little soil mixed with the vegetation. I'd then broadcast your WR and clover. I'd shoot for around 80-100 lbs/ac of WR and around 10 lbs/ac clover (total of all kinds). I would then roll the field with your roller and finally spray it with 2 qt/ac gly.

The WR will be your bow season attractant this year. Next spring, each time the WR hits a foot or so, mow it back to 6"-8". This will slowly release the clover so the WR does not shade it out but the WR will stay alive and fight weed infiltration. Let the winter rye die on its own. The clover will fill in.

Thanks,

Jack