Alfalfa

It's been a while since the roses were fed. I think around the middle of February was their last meal. A few are looking a little spent after their heavy blooming. The other day my friend was going to the feed store on her lunch hour, so I asked her to pick up 50 pounds of alfalfa pellets for me. The bag cost $11.10. The fellows at the feed store made a comment about the alfalfa, and she said, "Oh, no, it's not for my horses. My friend feeds it to her roses!" They couldn't believe it and then had a big laugh about it. Imagine giving perfectly good horse feed to roses!!

Dummies.com offers this about alfalfa meal.

Alfalfa meal: Derived from alfalfa plants and pressed into a pellet form, alfalfa meal is beneficial for adding nitrogen and potassium (about 2 percent each), as well as trace minerals and growth stimulants. Roses, in particular, seem to like this fertilizer and benefit from up to 5 cups of alfalfa meal per plant every ten weeks, worked into the soil. Add it to your compost pile to speed up the process.

Wikipedia says:

Triacontanol is a growth stimulant for many plants, most notably roses, in which it rapidly increases the number of basal breaks.

DavesGarden.com says:

Alfalfa provides many nutritional benefits not only for plant use, but for soil organisms as well. One very important ingredient is triacontanol, a powerful plant growth regulator. Orchid and rose growers make an alfalfa tea and spray it directly on as a foliar fertilizer. Alfalfa is very high in vitamins, plus N-P-K-Ca, Mg, and other valuable minerals. It also includes sugars, starches, proteins, fiber and 16 amino acids. Approximate analysis is 3-1-2. Alfalfa helps plants create larger flowers and increases the tolerance to cold. Make alfalfa tea by soaking 1 cup of alfalfa meal per 5 gallon of water.

Dry alfalfa is a good slow-release source of nitrogen, but since you will be "digesting" it by letting it ferment in water, the resulting tea is a soluable, fast-acting nitrogen source. Also, by making alfalfa (or manure) tea, you don't have to worry about weed seeds sprouting from the fertilizer. Orchid and rose growers use alfalfa tea as a foliar spray. If you grow delphiniums and irises, they also love alfalfa tea. Some iris growers mulch their beds with alfalfa meal. And an additional benefit for delphiniums is that the Epsom salts in the tea help to ward off slugs and snails. In addition to nitrogen, alfalfa supplies enzymes and trace elements that are not present in chemical nitrogen fertilizers.

I am applying alfalfa pellets to my garden beds this weekend. In the past I have applied it in the form of alfalfa tea (soil drench) at the rate of one gallon per bush. I mix it in a 32-gallon trash can with about 16 cups of alfalfa pellets. (Recipes vary.) The pellets provide nutrients to the plants over a two to four month period while the tea is an immediate source of nutrients because of the fermentation process used in making the tea. I have never used it as a foliar spray, but I should give it a try one day.

A study on the International Society of Horticultural Science website reports that application of alfalfa pellets seems to be a tool for control of root-knot nematodes.

When I first saw the list of minerals, enzymes, vitamins and amino acids contained in alfalfa, I was amazed. Why does alfalfa contain all the beneficial things listed below? Because of its root system which can grow deeper than 15 feet and is able to fix nitrogen in its root even in poor soil. Here's a fact sheet to check out.

Here is Mr. Inkpen's list of Alfalfa ingredients:

Triacontanol (growth stimulant)
Vitamin A (high concentration)
Thiamine
Riboflavin
Pantothenic Acid
Niacin
Pyridoxine
Choline
Bentaine
Folic Acid
co-enzymes
Crude proteins (16 - 25% in dry alfalfa)

Amino acids (% in alfalfa meal).
Tryptophan, 0.3 %
Aspartic Acid, 2.3%
Threonine, 1.0 %
Serine, 1.0%
Glutamic Acid, 2.7%
Proline, 1.2%
Glycine, 1.1%
Alanine, 1.1%
Cystine, 0.2%
Valine, 1.0%
Methionine, 0.3%
Isoleucine, 0.8%
Leucine, 1.6%
Tyrosine, 0.5%
Phenylalanine, 1.0%
Histidine, 0.4%
Lysine, Total, 1.1%
Arginine, 1.1%

Minerals (contained in dry alfalfa)
Nitrogen 3.75-5.5 %
Potassium .75 - 3.5 %
Phosphorus .3 - .7%
Calcium 1 - 2 %
Magnesium .30 - 1 %
Sulphur .2 - .5 %
Manganese 30-200 ppm
Iron 20-250 ppm
Boron 20-80 ppm
Copper 5-20 ppm
Zinc 20-70 ppm

And here's his recipe for Alfalfa Tea:

The Mix:
Choose a garbage bin or barrel with no leaks and a tight fitting lid. Position it in an out of the way place - you don't want to have to move it once it's full. For a full size garbage bin (20 gallons) add 16 cups of alfalfa pellets or alfalfa meal (4 cups to every 5 gallons or 22 litres of water)

Add 1 - 2 cups of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate crystals) (or one quarter to half a cup to 5 gallons) Optionally, add two tablespoons of Iron Chelate
Fill with water, put on a tight lid to prevent mosquitos from breeding in your "swamp"
Let stand for one week until it bubbles with fermentation. Your nose will tell you that it's ready.

Some garden friends I know use alfalfa meal/pellets as their only fertilizer. It is certainly an economical one.