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re-planting a hay field
Posted by Rebecca at 2014-09-07 13:25:38
A stupid question, but I am new to owning my own hay field: Weeds are taking over, and I need to re-seed it. I have been told I can't over seed an existing alfalfa field with alfalfa, or it will all die.

Question 1 is - is that true?
Question 2 is - if I plow under and re-seed in early fall, will I get hay from it next year, or does it need to be left alone for a year to get established?

Thanks in advance!
Response by Dris Abraham at 2014-09-07 21:31:02
Safest thing too do depending on where you live is to fall plant alfalfa with a nurse crop of barley (1 bushel to acre) and you can have three great cuttings of hay. The first cutting will be when your barley is on the milk stage.
Response by M. Burley at 2014-09-07 21:35:35
Talk to your extension agent. Your county may own a "No-Till" drill that you may borrow or rent. Their are many grasses that can be used to regenerate an older stand of alfalfa, depending on what part of the country you are in.
Response by Neal in Iowa at 2014-09-07 22:37:01
Rebecca,

Alfalfa plants put out a chemical that kills new alfalfa seedlings. It is best to have one full year between killed plants and new alfalfa seeding.

Might I suggest that you try to find some teff seed now. I tried in mid May and the seed company I called said he had been getting calls from out west (coast) and down south (Gulf coast) and the company is in Wisconsin, so he figured that there was no teff in the country as he was out as well. I ended up trying Pearl millet. It is okay, but I think teff would have been better. Both are warm season annuals, so need to be planted after the last spring frost.

I seeded late (about 2 weeks past my target due to rain and seed deliver), had seedlings in 4 days, made hay 6 weeks later and will probably cut again at about 4.5 weeks. The millet is more like sudan grass without prussic acid issues. Teff is finer.

Do you have a fair stand of grass. You might be able to spray to kill the alfalfa this fall, make grass hay next year and then plant alfalfa in 2016.

Neal
Response by Dale Wagner at 2014-09-08 01:14:47
question one is wrong. It won't cause the currant alfalfa to die. But it will take several years of seeding it to thicken it. It will take an exceptional moisture year for the seedlings to survive.

question two has many choices. I don't know when alfalfa should be seeded in your area. In mine, it has to be seeded in the spring but only a few miles away, they can fall seed. No matter when you seed it, you should get a crop to harvest.

you can also cultivate alfalfa with tines to eleminate some kinds of weeds.
Response by Seth at 2014-09-08 16:28:44
My grandpa would always keep an alfalfa field for 5 yrs. On the 6th year he would plow it under and plant wheat the 6th year. On the 7th year he would replant the alfalfa.

The wheat crop would make a bumper yield after following the alfalfa.

Towards the 4th and 5th year, weeds, gopher mounds, grass, etc. would begin destroying the crop, thus the need to plow, rotate, and start over. Good luck!
Response by Wes Lupher at 2014-09-08 17:57:24
At our elevation we spring seed about May 1st. Nurse crop of oats.
Watched a few patches of no till. Didn't do so great.
The best stands here were sprayed about May 1st then drilled with no till two weeks later.
Otherwise disk or plow and disk works best around here in Wyoming.
P.S. we never get 3 cuttings at 7100'.
Response by joaker at 2014-09-08 20:09:14
You can take a cultivator and go across the field and split the crowns to increase the alfalfa for another year.
Response by Rebecca at 2014-09-23 18:19:33
Thanks for all the input and ideas, it was very helpful.

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