Alfalfa seeding and reseeding.

[The Mayor]

Has anyone ever seeded alfalfa with a John Deere 1560 no-till drill WITHOUT a seeder attachment on it? Just put the seed in the big bin and turn the population down? On the chart on the lid it has the rate for alfalfa. And also about reseeding an existing alfalfa field with alfalfa I have heard it can’t be done but my neighbor is asking me to reseed his field this fall.

 

[Ed S.]

Can't answer about your drill, but I can share what I know about reseeding... alfalfa is "autotoxic," which means it can't be reseeded into an existing alfalfa field - the new plants will die due to toxins the existing plants put into the soil.

You'll need to plow down the existing field and wait about a year for the toxins to dissipate before reseeding. I've been told, and personal experience backs this up, that you can overseed into a new alfalfa field up to a year after the initial seeding (it apparently takes that long for the autotoxicity to build back up). I overseeded some thin spots in our field this spring (field replanted last year), and the overseeded areas came in fine.

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[paul]

One can mix oats & the alfalfa seed in the big box & seed that way. The tiny alfalfa seeds tend to shake to the bottom, so it doesn't work great, but it works. It is very difficult to get the rate low enough to work with straight alfalfa seed. Plant _very_ shallow if you are running through the tubes & disks, as alfalfa likes to be less than a 1/2 inch deep in firm soil.

A growing adult alfalfa plant will put out a toxic substance up to 2 yards out in the soil that really hurts new alfalfa sprouts, mostly kills them or makes them very sick plants.

The toxin takes about 3 months time of _good_ growing weather to disappear in the ground. So you need to wait 3 months after killing the old plants. Typically one just plants something else for a year, corn is always good to use up the N the alfalfa leaves in the soil.

Now, once in a long while, for some reason trying to overseed alfalfa with alfalfa will work out. Right weather conditions, right rainfall, or something. Dumb luck. It doesn't work often, & it is just throwing the seed away and leaving you with a thin field for another year, but just once in a while it does work out so people keep trying it.

Not a good idea tho.

--->Paul

 

[hayray]

I have used the Deere 1560 many times for alfalfa and even with the seeder box attatchment I have had difficultly getting seeding depth correct and problems with under seeding using 98% PLS non-coated. I can't remember, do they use the same disk opener for the large seed box, if so then I guess depth should not be too much of a problem?

 

[Larry NE IL]

Been my experience that the only time reseeding alfalfa works is the in the first year before any leaves have been knocked off by cutting. After the first cutting, the chances of success goes down in a hurry.