Re: CULT: Alfalfa
- To: i*@onelist.com
- Subject: Re: CULT: Alfalfa
- From: J* I* J* <j*@ix.netcom.com>
- Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 18:35:28 -0700
From: John I Jones <jijones@ix.netcom.com>
janet & shan wrote:
>
> From: "janet & shan" <shan@montana.net>
>
> We have read about adding an alfalfa mix to the soil to add extra nutrition
> for iris. We bought alfalfa cubes. I mixed about four cups of these cubes
> to a five gallon bucket. They break up and become like green straw fairly
> quickley and I poured it on the reblooming iris beds to give them a boost
> before they bloom again. I am wondering if the cubes are the right stuff?
> Then I mix them in the soil?? and they are like compost?? So far only have
> one iris bed completed. Any information you have would be helpful. These
> cubes are loose cut alfalfa and resemble shreded broccoli.
J & S,
I am trying to remember all that was posted last year about alfalfa. You
should check the archives, but as I remember:
If the cubes are nothing but alfalfa then that is ok. If the cubes are any
combination of corn, vitamins, minerals and molasses, not so good. I think the
corn acts as a growth inhibitor.
A lot of folks go for the pelletized form of pure alfalfa and till them into
the soil or make a tea with them. There are recipes for the tea in the
archives. (or maybe someone will chime in with one).
The problem I found with putting pellets on the surface of the soil around the
rzs was that when the pellets got wet they swelled up into this wet goop and
crowded the rzs. Like a wet mulch - not something you want on your irises in
the spring and summer.
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
John Jones, jijones@ix.netcom.com
Fremont, California, USA, Earth, USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay)
Max high 95F/35C, Min Low 28F/-2C average 10 days each
Heavy clay base for my raised beds.
There are currently 83 Iris pictures on my Website. Visit me at:
http://members.home.net/jijones
Subscribe to iris-talk at:
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