Planting Alfalfa this Fall

Never heard of this one; 'course there's a lot of things I havent heard of. :>)

Aren't you afraid of winter kill on that new baby plant? Even with spring planting, it takes a lot of 'nurse crop time' to get that new alfalfa plant rooted down & established.

Will be interesting to see the responses to this thread.

Allan

Even here in Indiana most of the test plots are planted in late August. You need at least 8 weeks until good conditions for the alfalfa to get big enough to surviive the winter. From my memory Neb gets really cold, 10 weeks may not hurt.....

You fellas in your country get the rains.

Out here in western NE, I think planting in the fall would be akin to flushing the money down the toilet.

It might work if the land is under a pivot, tho. Dunno.

You mentioned seeding rates. A guy can get the stuff too thick also and when this happens, it is competing with itself and just will not produce the tonnage.

I think a good rule of thumb is: drop 10 to 12 lbs per acre and hope that half of it takes root.

Just my view,

Allan

Last 2 years several are planting oats, spray for weeds, harvest the grain, harvest the straw, & then plant alfalfa. Better grain, better weed control is what I'm told.

--->Paul

You have the same exact growing season as we do here; so I would think it should work in NE as well then.

Like I said, there's a lot I haven't heard of. :>)

Allan

--->Paul