Alfalfa as a Fertilizer
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- čas přidán 14. 04. 2024
- Rose hobbyists have been using alfalfa (as a tea or topdress fertilizer) for years, but in this video we'll discuss the reasons why alfalfa is an excellent overall soil amendment and nutrient source for all sorts of garden plants.
Many thanks to April from Western Alfalfa Milling for joining me on this video and answering our questions. Here are links to their fertilizer brands:
www.growanythingfert.ca
www.alfalfagreen.ca
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Love using alfalfa all over all my gardens. I learned about alfalfa from FV!! It truly has made a huge difference, and I am surrounded by farm land and have never had an issue with rodents showing up to eat it. I do water immediately after putting it down! Love the video...thanks to both of you 🌷🪴🌾
Thanks Deb!
Great to see a organic grower advocating alfalfa in your garden. I have been using it for over 20 years. Thanks for this! Canadian, eh!
Thanks. Yes, a very Canadian episode!
An organic fertilizer we use here in Central Texas contains alfalfa as its first ingredient. After watching the video, I now see why. Thanks.
This was great to hear. I’ve considered getting some alfalfa for my garden before but not really known very much about it. This was helpful for me.
Side note, I got my mail order rose recently! It looks good and I think I’ll be making a video for it. Have a great week!
Great. I look forward to seeing how it turns out
Garden centres need to step up. After Jason's last video about fertilizing roses, I went in search of alfalfa meal at GardenWorks (a chain of garden centres in the lower mainland). They don't carry it; my master garden neighbour gave me the tip that she buys it at a farm feed supply store and shares the bulk bag with friends. Though after this video I'd make sure to look for organic non GMO. And I hope Grow Anything will be available at stores like GardenWorks soon.
Thanks. Pretty much all the local garden centers have a way to buy through Terralink, which I hear will be bringing in a shipment.
This makes me want to grow alfalfa on a plot! It’s actually pretty too.
I've been using the animal feed grade for years, since you first recommended it and my roses have become amazing. This new information will broaden my use and I'll change the type I'm using. Always great information from you.
For those looking to find Alfalfa meal, it is primarily produced and sold as animal feed (horse, goats, rabbits, etc). You'll easily find it at feed stores, where the horse people shop. Typically comes in 20kg / 44 lb bags.
Side note, It'll often state the protein content, so those animal owners know how much protein their livestock are getting. Take that protein content (often 15 to 20 %) and divide by 6.25 and you'll find your nitrogen content. ie, 17% protein = 2.72% Nitrogen.
It's not soluble nitrogen, like the chemical fertilizers. It first has to be broken down by the soil microbes. Then, as those bacteria and fungi eat, poop, and die, it gets released into the soil in forms that plants can uptake.
Thanks Steve
Excellent conversation Jason.👌
The distinction between fertilizer pellets and feed makes a big difference as you said. Many feed companies simply harvest the alfalfa, grind it, compress it, bag it, and out it goes seeds and all.
The same applies to alfalfa feed and treat cubes which are even less processed with seed pods, grass blades, and straw stems compressed together.
They all work as natural compost nutrient feed, but at very different levels.
If you are trying to grow a bit of random alfalfa that you don't really know what the quality is, alfalfa cubes is probably your best bet.😂
The test bed looks quite promising. It will be interesting to see how they all develop.🤙
Thanks. I'm a little tempted to throw in a strip of alfalfa in the yard somewhere - but then again I have enough projects!
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
I know right!
Actually I am going to plant a patch of alfalfa for nitrogen fixing and the obvious benefits of the harvest, along with oats, wheat, barley, and probably brown rice as edibles and supplemental feed for the animals.
If you do consider a small patch, make sure it is in your most down wind section, so any blown seed is not traveling across the entire property.😉
After all it is a grass and highly propagatable.🤙
You answered so many of my questions. Thank you
So welcome!
Great to watch and thanks to bring forth relevant aspects of alfalfa feed.
Thank you!
Just picked up a bag of this at Apache Seeds in Edmonton. Ive used the animal alfalfa feed before.
Great video! A pretty decent solution to my dilemma concerning the use of herbicide tainted manures for my composting.
Good call. Those persistent herbicides make me so nervous when dealing with hay/straw or the manures derived from their feeding.
Thank you.
Got my first 20 lbs bag of alfalfa pallets after watching your other video. Not readily available in our area or online though so had to drive a long way to a Tractor Supply Co. The feed was all that they had but excited to feed my garden!!
Yes I used it on my vegetables garden and bought my pellets at buckerfields here in bc
I will go online to see how and where to buy it...thank-you for clarifying the difference between animal feed pellets and the gardening type
I see it's available in Langley in the lower mainland. Thanks for the info.
Thank you Jason. 🪻🌷💚🙃
Thanks Jason for doing this video. It has reminded me that I really need to look at seeding some alfalfa on my tree farm as its ideal for soil improvement - especially when I am in my third year of drought and the topsoil here is often 2-6" deep.
My pleasure. I was really interested to hear that the deep roots of perennial alfalfa are so effective at pulling carbon down into the soil profile! A little rabbit-hole I went down after this video.
Thank you, 😊
My pleasure!
"nitrogen and protein are the same thing". I read this but can't say I understand how it works. --- I would love to see you , Jason, do trial beds with one rose using different additives - one seaweed, one alfalfa, one manure, one Osma etc to see if there are measurable differences over years. It would be fascinating and very useful. ---- In the UK and Ireland you can usually find alfalfa grown fairly locally, so it can cut down on the air miles your fertilisers have to travel. As with seaweed pellets/meal
Nitrogen is a fundamental component of amino acids, the molecular building blocks of protein. If we know the Protein we can convert it to determine the Nitrogen, and visa versa. Protein is divided by 6.25 to determine Nitrogen, or Nitrogen is multiplied by 6.25 to determine Protein.
Food value of plants is typically referred to as protein, which is why we refer to the quality of the alfalfa in terms of protein content, rather than nitrogen content. The conversion to Nitrogen is done for the sake of labelling as a fertilizer with the more familiar (and required) N P K ratios.
Or, for the official answer..... (thank you google)
What is the conversion factor of nitrogen?
The borate anions formed are titrated with standardized hydrochloric acid, by which is calculated the content of nitrogen representing the amount of crude protein in the sample. Most proteins contain 16% of nitrogen, thus the conversion factor is 6.25.
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/kjeldahl-method#:~:text=The%20borate%20anions%20formed%20are,the%20conversion%20factor%20is%206.25.
I'll try to work out some trials of the sort you mention here. I agree that it would be useful and make for good videos - I'm struggling for time a little right now (with the spring selling season) so I have to remember to resume projects when the season settles a bit.
Wow. Such a helpful video. I was definitely concerned about deer and other wildlife dining on our fertilize, and weed seeds. You guys covered that thoughtfully. I appreciate it. I can’t find their products here in Connecticut. Not on Amazon either. Rats. Maybe I can find a comp. Anyway, thank you.
It's good ingredient to grind up/pulverize for a 'worm chow' recipe. topic: Vermiculture.
Thanks Brian!
This is super interesting. I wonder if planting crops NEXT to alfalfa plants would have similar effects.
Great for earthworms. Charles Darwin considered earthworms the most important animal on the planet because they create the humus layer by eating on top and digging channels for air and water and delivering castings to the roots. They are made of 67 pct. protein build from amino acids, which they cannot build, but have to find in the soil. They know a short cut though. If they can find plant protein they can break it down in their intestines with enzymes and bacteria to the amino acids they need. They prefer food high on calcium. If they have access to plant protein they can double their growth. Alfalfa is high on both protein and calcium.
Hello Jason, I’ve been using alfalfa mill and the alfalfa pellets for several years now. I usually put it on in late November or early December that was it’s already started to get broken down by spring planting season. Thanks for the great video.
Thanks for sharing your timing on it!
I have listened to Jason‘s video a couple of years ago regarding alfalfa pellets in the soil and since then I use alfalfa pellets every time I plant a shrub or a tree. Furthermore, every spring when I see the buds on my roses starting to swell, I will take away approximately 1 inch of the top mulch, round each rose and put in a couple of cups of alfalfa pellets, cover them back up and water them has made a remarkable difference in my roses in Virginia
We have incorporated alfalfa (and clover, too) into our garden design, so we have a ready supply .. it takes the place of 'weeds' .. and turns the management task from a tiresome chore into a harvest of fertility. I know, that might sound like just a silly mental trick .. but the plants love it .. and I no longer resent having to 'weed' the garden. Even a small patch around the outside of one's garden can provide a lot of fresh green manure .. and a trap for visiting rodents and deer!
Cheers, from the OTHER Jason! 🧙🏻♂🌳
Thanks Jason. Really nice to hear about your approach to it!
Community Natural Foods in Calgary will have it in stock before the end of April
Thanks April
You can also grow your own Alfalfa and then "chop and drop" it as a mulch/fertilizer around your ornamental/garden plants. Seeds can be found online (even seeds for eating "alfalfa sprouts" will work). Once the alfalfa is planted, you'll have a continuous supply of it to use as mulch around your plants.
Thanks - tempting!
Great video, thanks. I have been using meal and pellets for a few years now. I have been concerned about if they were organic or not but haven’t been able to find any that state they are so I assume they aren’t. I also suspect they are feed pellets as they are the 1/4” x 1”. Hopefully the company can point me to an organize source on Vancouver Island.
Check with Integrity Sales & Distributors in Victoria 🙂
No alfalfa fertilizer over here :( The only ones i can find soy, and neem cake. Look up the neem cake which is actually leftover from neem oil extraction and in powder form. Said to help with soil softening after long application. NPK 511. I guess i could give that a go as we now have lower temperature and the roses starting to bud. I lost quite a lot roses because we were having prolonged extreme hot season
That sounds promising too. I was even thinking that soybean mean would be a good alternative, depending on pricing and availability.
Do you need to mill it in order for it to be effective? Could you grow it and lay it in your beds for continual feed?
Permaculture folks sometimes do the "chop and drop" method that you're describing. I've also done it with comfrey leaves, or if you really think of it, mulching your grass trimmings into the lawn isn't so different (except that in the case of alfalfa, it's pulling N from the atmosphere). If you were able to grow a fair bit of alfalfa in reasonable proximity to the garden beds you want to supplement, I see no reason why not. The commercially available dried & milled product has a few advantages, not the least of which is space: most home gardeners won't have the space or inclination to set aside and tend a whole other crop of alfalfa to feed their veggie or ornamental garden.
A couple of years ago I purchased a small pack of alfalfa (for sprouting) in order to grow and utilize as feed for my plants but never did anything since then.
Do you recommend any practice like that? I have grown fenugreek for eating and nitrogen fixing years ago.
Definitely worth doing as a project or if you have the space.
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm thank you. I can manage a small patch for sure.
Can you add alfalfa to potted roses or only for in ground?
It's fine to use for potted plants.
Can I grind the alfalfa pellets to feed my roses and apply like that and water it through? I find so much easier dealing with the pellets when they’re ground…
Sure can if it makes it easier for you. Note that the smaller pellets I picture in the video (of GrowAnything) might not even need the grinding as they're so small already.
It's difficult to find valid sources, but do you think triacontanol also increases yield in all or some crops Ja?👍👍🇬🇧
I've had difficulty getting good straight answers from the research as well. Triacontanol has been studied for ages, so there's no lack of discussion, but the part I haven't seen is a clear-cut "x amount of triacontanol increased yield by y %"
You may cover this, but what is the difference, if any, between chopper and pelleted.
I'm not so sure about chopped, but April did mention alfalfa meal was has quite a lot of dust in it, so the pellets are easier to apply
Lucerne - Also Known As Alfalfa
hi,i have a crazy idea, can you grow alfalfa next to rose?like ,60cm away from rose root?
Sure, so long as they don't crowd eachother
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm is 60cm enough?
Can this grass alfalfa grow in tropics particularly Nigeria
I suspect so - it's highly adaptable, and grows well in Indonesia with a similar temperature.
Where can you get it?
www.growanythingfert.ca/find-a-retailer
What timing. I bought a bag of alfalfa pellets earlier today because of your earlier videos.
Where can we buy in the US?
I quizzed April on this before we released the video (anticipating some requests) - and apparently the answer is Vermont! So hopefully they can look at expanding distribution down south of the border. But as for other (feed) alfalfa pellets, it's the feed stores, Tractor Supply etc.
Depending on whether you live in a big urban city or rural area. You'll need to visit a farm and feed store out in the smaller towns. Especially in areas abundant with cattle and live stock. Tractor supply, Purina and such.
Also you typically won't find it at i.e. Walmart or big lawn and gardens centers.
Where can we buy this organic alfaha
They have a local distributor, so I'm going to see if we can stock it up on the farm here. Otherwise, they do have some other sources listed in BC on the website.
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm can you let me know where I can buy it from iam in Abbotsford I’ve been using animal alfalfa did she say to use it every 4-6 weeks in lawns and roses great video
Thanks. Well check their website or I'll also be pursuing a purchase through Terralink.
I can't find a place to buy it near Calgary, their website stinks.
I can find alfalfa meal even in Vancouver. Perhaps not this exact product. But in Calgary, check a farm feed supply store for alfalfa meal. That's where gardeners get it in my area. Dirt cheap in bulk. I'll definitely look for an organic alfalfa meal. Share a bag with a gardener friend.
I hear you - I just looked and saw that the closest listed is Sundre, which is still a ways. A couple of things I noted in the unrecorded portion of the conversation is that they're in a rebranding effort, which could also be an opportunity to chase down new distribution. Given their roots, it's no surprise that they've started with rural/agricultural distribution, but the local garden centers is where the product really belongs.
UFA or Peavymart has feed grade alfalfa from Alfa tec which is non GMO. They have a section on their website about using it for fertilizer: alfatec.ca/wp-content/uploads/Fertilizer-Guide.pdf
Peavy Mart has animal feed grade alfalfa pellets
In what sense is protein and nitrogen the same. Nitrogen is an element, protein is a long chain of elements, including nitrogen.
Nitrogen is a fundamental component of amino acids, the molecular building blocks of protein. If we know the Protein we can convert it to determine the Nitrogen, and visa versa. Protein is divided by 6.25 to determine Nitrogen, or Nitrogen is multiplied by 6.25 to determine Protein.
Food value of plants is typically referred to as protein, which is why we refer to the quality of the alfalfa in terms of protein content, rather than nitrogen content. The conversion to Nitrogen is done for the sake of labelling as a fertilizer with the more familiar (and required) N P K ratios.
Or for the official answer.... (thank you Google)
What is the conversion factor of nitrogen in Kjeldahl?
The borate anions formed are titrated with standardized hydrochloric acid, by which is calculated the content of nitrogen representing the amount of crude protein in the sample. Most proteins contain 16% of nitrogen, thus the conversion factor is 6.25.
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/kjeldahl-method#:~:text=The%20borate%20anions%20formed%20are,the%20conversion%20factor%20is%206.25.
Thanks James. I took April to mean something along the lines of what you're saying: that N is present in Alfalfa as a fixed proportion of the protein, so if you know one, you can calculate the other. But it's more precise for sure to say that N is present as a part of protein rather than N = protein
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm yes, thanks for that.
All I can find locally is animal feed alfalfa.... i hate when businesses only have a few select retailers. Why not have it easier for everyone to get and set up an online shop or at least make it readily available at CO-OP.
I think CoOp is a great idea. They support Canadian business, have wide distribution, and are already well-known for both animal feed and garden supplies
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm We have been actively trying to get into Coop for quite some time. Maybe after this video, they will start taking my calls and replying to my emails. 🙂
In the meantime, if people would ask for it by name, it won't take long to soon be available across Canada and the USA.
@AprilGuertin I will absolutely ask for it
I’m having a very hard time finding a U.S. seller ? 🪻🌷💚🙃
At this point they don't have much distribution south of the border, so you may have to settle for a feed-stye alfalfa (or alternative brand) for now.
Try the Dr. Earth brand. Easy to find in the US.