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How long can alfalfa seeds be stored?

D

dhermesc

Well-known Member
We are looking at putting in a few acres (just 4-5) of alfalfa. The place my son works at has 7-8 50 pound bags of alfalfa seed that have been sitting for 5-7 years. He can have this seed for the low
low price of free. I know there is a test that if you drop alfalfa seed is a container of warm water and if the seeds sink they MIGHT be good - but if they float, they are definitely bad. Any
other way to test - other then carefully measuring some out and planting in a pot to see if it sprouts while in the house?



Otherwise my son said he would buy enough good seed for 5 pounds an acre and plant 15-25 pounds an acre of the free seed and hope he get 20-25% germination. I asked him - what if you get 60-80
percent germination and you are heavily overseeded?


I'll ask that here - what happens when alfalfa is overseeded?
 
I do not think a 300% overseed will hurt. I limited mine to 10 pounds because I am stingy and had rather have 12 to 15
 
I grow alfalfa but am no expert. However I would plant only the free seed and double or triple the rate. I plant 12 lb per acre along with 12 lb orchard grass. The trouble with 5 lbs of the new is if only that germinates you will have a sparse stand. I think it would be preferable to get all or nothing, so to say. And I have read alfalfa will thin itself, so dont worry about overseeding..I plant in early September. Theoretically I can check the germination during the fall and if it fails I can try again in the spring without losing an entire summer growing season. These days I only disc to loosen up the top one inch rather than plowing. The farther field in the photo was planted 3 years ago this way. The mowed field is 2nd cut grass planted same way. Another thing Ive been doing is running the seed drill at half the seed rate but going over the field 2 times and trying to split the rows.
cvphoto167996.jpg
 
I had an agronomist tell me a long time ago you lose most germination with in the first 12-24 months of storage.

That being said I have seen my father plant alfalfa seed that has been stored dry in drums in the grainery for over 10 years with good results.. He too puts it on a damp paper towel in the window and watches...
 
Do a germ test and plant according to results. If germ test is 50 percent, then plant double the amount of seed.

I shoot for about 10 or 12 lbs an acre. Neighbor use to do 8 lbs an acre. But he was skimping a little in my opinion.

Alfalfa will thin itself out. But I would avoid planting way more population than needed. NO need to do that just because you don't know what the germ percent is. Figure that out, and take all the guessing game out of it. Otherwise you just aren't going to know if your doing to much, or more importantly, not enough.
 
dhermesc said:
We are looking at putting in a few acres (just 4-5) of alfalfa. The place my son works at has 7-8 50 pound bags of alfalfa seed that have been sitting for 5-7 years. He can have this seed for the low
low price of free. I know there is a test that if you drop alfalfa seed is a container of warm water and if the seeds sink they MIGHT be good - but if they float, they are definitely bad. Any
other way to test - other then carefully measuring some out and planting in a pot to see if it sprouts while in the house?



Otherwise my son said he would buy enough good seed for 5 pounds an acre and plant 15-25 pounds an acre of the free seed and hope he get 20-25% germination. I asked him - what if you get 60-80
percent germination and you are heavily overseeded?


I'll ask that here - what happens when alfalfa is overseeded?
Click to expand...

Svalbard Global Seed Vault​

Years ago I read a book about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It was very interesting. They maintain millions of varieties of seeds. Part of the maintenance program is to plant every variety on something like a 50 year schedule to renew their seeds. Under proper conditions seeds last for almost forever. The life of seed depends on the storage conditions.
 
dhermesc said:
We are looking at putting in a few acres (just 4-5) of alfalfa. The place my son works at has 7-8 50 pound bags of alfalfa seed that have been sitting for 5-7 years. He can have this seed for the low
low price of free. I know there is a test that if you drop alfalfa seed is a container of warm water and if the seeds sink they MIGHT be good - but if they float, they are definitely bad. Any
other way to test - other then carefully measuring some out and planting in a pot to see if it sprouts while in the house?



Otherwise my son said he would buy enough good seed for 5 pounds an acre and plant 15-25 pounds an acre of the free seed and hope he get 20-25% germination. I asked him - what if you get 60-80
percent germination and you are heavily overseeded?


I'll ask that here - what happens when alfalfa is overseeded?
Click to expand...
dhermesc said:
We are looking at putting in a few acres (just 4-5) of alfalfa. The place my son works at has 7-8 50 pound bags of alfalfa seed that have been sitting for 5-7 years. He can have this seed for the low
low price of free. I know there is a test that if you drop alfalfa seed is a container of warm water and if the seeds sink they MIGHT be good - but if they float, they are definitely bad. Any
other way to test - other then carefully measuring some out and planting in a pot to see if it sprouts while in the house?



Otherwise my son said he would buy enough good seed for 5 pounds an acre and plant 15-25 pounds an acre of the free seed and hope he get 20-25% germination. I asked him - what if you get 60-80
percent germination and you are heavily overseeded?


I'll ask that here - what happens when alfalfa is overseeded?
Click to expand...
 
A friend of mine planted Meeker Baltic Alfalfa seed a variety that was developed of his ranch in the 1920's, seed was havester in 1947. The seed was planted in the late 1990's germination was only about 30% stand is still alive.
Most alfalfas are auto toxic.
 
Some of the wheat seeds that were found inside the pyramids were able to sprout, being thousands of years old, but it seems they were stored and a dry place. So... the storage conditions are very very important.
 
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