Alfalfa anyone used this in the garden?

Posts

• Nollie Posts: 7,529

  February 2021 edited February 2021

  Not yet, but I will be this year. Alfalfa and fish emulsion are popular in the US but not much used in Europe. Pelleted alfalfa can be bought from livestock feed suppliers, make sure to get the one for horses, which shouldn’t contain sugar, unlike the one for rabbits. A few on the rose thread are trying alfalfa this year, I think. 
  
  My plan is to make Alfalfa tea (see recipe below) and to use this as an initial feed at the beginning of March, then use soluble sulphate of potash (similar to tomato feed) and liquid seaweed during the blooming season. I have a lot of roses and this regime works out cheaper than buying proprietary rose feed and tomato feed. As it’s an experiment, I can’t say how effective it will be.
  
  EDITED TO ADD: This is rose feeding rather than soil feeding, tho all adds to the mix. I do mulch with manure or compost as well.
  
  
  
  

  Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

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• Omori Posts: 1,674

  February 2021

  I have a 20kg bag from brand Dengie, which is 100% alfalfa. Some brands are blended with grass so just make sure to avoid those. You can find it from horse feed suppliers, am*zon, etc. Seaweed meal is also good. 

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• luis_pr Posts: 123

  February 2021 edited February 2021

  Alfalfa is a fertilizer with an approximate NPK Ratio of 5-1-2 that also provides other nutrients like calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, many vitamins.... It also provides a growth hormone called triaconatol. I do not use it often, maybe every so few years, on roses and other plants that need a little something extra. Sometimes I buy an alfalfa meal at organic minded stores or I buy alfalfa pellets and make alfalfa tea. It does have quite an odor! Whew!

  
  

  Here is some information from this side of the pond (an article in the American Rose Society's website):

  
  

  https://www.rose.org/single-post/2018/04/27/The-Value-of-Alfalfa
  

  
  

  I also like to use liquid seaweed or liquid fish with new plantings (potted or in the ground). The liquid seaweed that I buy says that it can be applied and absorbed via foliage sprays too.
  

  
  

  The only problem that I have had with all of these three products is that they seem to "encourage" interest by my dogs so I have to "monitor" the plants and the dogs for a few days. Hee, hee, hee.
  

  
  

  I even had one pooch that was very much into coffee grounds! You can imagine the dog showing up all dirty and then me asking the dog 'where have you been?'. Then I notice the smell of coffee ('Oh, I know where YOU  have been.')  ;o)
  

  
  

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• Nollie Posts: 7,529

  August 2022 edited August 2022

  Spam aside, did you try alfalfa @Meomye?
  
  I found the tea was great for an initial boost, but there were minerals and trace elements lacking and I began to observe some nutrient deficiencies on my roses by the end of the season with just the tea and sulphate of potash. Manganese in particular.
  
  Oh and I’ve recently dosed them with a broad-spectrum deficiency corrector containing iron, manganese, boron, copper, zinc etc.

  Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

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