RE: Alfalfa pellets & Alfalfa tea
Hi George,
I tilled in 100 lbs of alfalfa pellets in the plots this past spring and
50 lbs. of kelp meal. I've been using an alfalfa tea the past two weeks as
well. I have bigger pumpkins this year than I have ever had at this point
in the season in past years and the weather has been far from ideal.
I can't say it's the alfalfa and kelp though as I'm doing a lot of things
differently this year trying to get better results. There are no
experiments with controls in my patch. It's usually all or nothing here. I
also used alfalfa last year. It breaks down fairly quickly, is a good
organic source of nitrogen and also has that growth hormone, so I can't see
any negatives. Rose growers I know have been using alfalfa for years with
good results. They oftem mix it up as a tea in a trash can using pellets,
epsom salts, and chelated iron and zinc. I skipped the iron and zinc and
epsom salts as my soil is in good shape as far as the nutrients they
contribute are concerned. We'll find out if I doing a better job in October
when they hit the scales.
Chris Michalec
Covington, WA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PumpkinDude@webtv.net [SMTP:PumpkinDude@webtv.net]
> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 9:10 PM
> To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
> Subject: Alfalfa pellets & Alfalfa tea
>
> This past weekend the Home & Garden section
> of our local newspaper had an article written
> by a local Master Gardener (who is not a
> pumpkin grower). Her article was entitled
> "A Recipe For Success: Serve Your Garden
> Some Alfalfa Tea"
> She explains that there is a hormone in
> alfalfa (triacontanol) that stimulaes root growth.
> A search of the Mallorn archives shows that
> this was briefly discussed a year or so ago.
>
> Her article explains that she had good results
> using the pellets as a side dressing around her
> plants so she decided to go one step further
> and make some "alfalfa compost tea".
> The ingredients........a handful of alfalfa pellets,
> worm compost, a little basic plant food and
> some seaweed. The article did not list exact
> quantities. She added all this to a 5 gallon
> bucket of water.
> She stirred this mixture daily and watched it
> begin to bubble as the microbiotic action began.
> After 10 days she mixed one cup of tea with
> 2 gallons of water and used it on her plants.
> Again she had very good results.
> She experimented with 2 plots of peppers.
> The ones that recieved the alfalfa definitely
> had "better color, more growth and had
> earlier blooms".
>
> How many list growers are using alfalfa pellets
> or tea this year ??
> Results ??
>
> George Webster
> Napa, Ca
>
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