How to Make and Use Alfalfa Meal Fertilizer
Alfalfa meal is like a natural multivitamin for your garden. This natural fertilizer will make your plants thrive! Horticultural expert Lorin Nielsen explains how to make your own alfalfa meal and how to use it as fertilizer in your garden.
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Alfalfa is a staple among livestock farmers as a nutrient-rich feed. But did you know that alfalfa meal is also a great organic fertilizer?
High-quality alfalfa meal is generally weed-free. It adds nitrogen and trace minerals to your soil. It also contains a natural fatty-acid growth stimulant called triacontanol. You can use it in place of other fertilizers or in conjunction with other soil amendments. It’s often used to improve the tilth of the soil as well, so it has dual purpose.
I’m sure by now you’re asking how you get started. Let’s break down this wonderful soil amendment and get you to work!
What Is Alfalfa Meal?
Alfalfa itself is fantastic for your garden. It provides not only a good NPK boost but also lots of micronutrients. Many people use alfalfa hay as a mulch material as it acts as a natural fertilizer layer and weed blocker.
But alfalfa meal is a bit more processed than straight alfalfa hay. They begin by drying out mature plants (Medicago sativa), then grinding them into a fine powder. If it’s going to be used as animal feed, it’s fermented first to make it more palatable to ruminant livestock. It may then be pressed into pellets or cubes.
Some forms are also produced from fermented alfalfa seeds. These are dried out and ground into a fine powder as well.
Its use as livestock feed dates as far back as 3500 BCE, when it’s believed to have been grown in Iran. Its use as a fertilizer appeared much later. Once people discovered it enriched their soil, it became popular quickly!
Alfalfa meal fertilizers have multiple benefits in the garden. The NPK value is usually balanced, somewhere around 3-1-2. But there are also many trace elements in this meal that help plants thrive.
Vitamins such as A, B, and E are present in the meal, as well as minerals like magnesium and iron. It contains sixteen amino acids that play roles in healthy plant growth. Best of all, it has naturally-occurring triacontanol. This naturally occurring growth hormone stimulates healthy root and stem development in young plants.
In essence, this wonderful meal acts like a multivitamin for your plants. It helps kickstart growth through the quick release of nutrients into the soil. Also, it decomposes fast, helping improve soil tilth and water retention.
Benefits of Alfalfa Meal
One of the best benefits of alfalfa meal is triacontanol. This naturally-occurring component helps to promote healthy root development in plants. It also improves the yield of crops, aids in nutrient uptake, and fixes the nitrogen in the soil.
As an additive, alfalfa meal is great for another purpose too. It’s a natural compost pile booster. If your pile is starting to cool, a few handfuls of it can kickstart the heating process.
Additionally, it’s rich in micronutrients. A tremendous amount of trace minerals can be found in this meal, all beneficial to your garden.
If you are growing your own alfalfa, you have the added benefit of the plant loosening your soil. It puts down deep roots that help aerate and break up clay-like soils. Absorbing much of its own weight in water, it also works to hold moisture in the soil. It’s not as effective at this as other plant matter may be, but it does help improve moisture retention.
If you have root-knot nematodes, there are few ways to eliminate them. Adding beneficial nematodes will do it, but alfalfa meal in heavy doses can also reduce nematode populations.
Drawbacks of Alfalfa Meal
As it breaks down, alfalfa meal produces heat. This is fantastic if you’re trying to heat up your compost tumbler. But too much alfalfa meal worked into your planters may cause the soil to heat. Luckily, careful application can reduce the heating risk.
Pelleted or cubed versions of this soil amendment are used as feed for livestock. Unfortunately, that means it also acts as a feed for rodents. Mice, rats, rabbits, or other rodents may come search through your garden beds.
If rodents like field mice are a problem for you, use loose meal instead of pelleted or cubed forms. Work it through the top layer of your soil. This will reduce the rodent population.
Alfalfa feedstock is often treated with molasses or other additives. While these additives won’t harm your garden, the sugars can speed up bacterial growth. For beneficial bacteria, this is great! But those of us who’ve fought a bacterial plant disease may wish to wait, at least until the bad bacteria are gone.
Cheaper grades may have seeds mixed in. While this isn’t necessarily a problem, you should be aware that you might have alfalfa sprouts if you buy low grades.
Finally, as alfalfa pellets or cubes break down, they can turn brown and look unappetizing in a garden. You can simply hide them with some mulch if you’d like. Otherwise, soaking the pellets or cubes in water until they break apart is best. This allows even distribution.
Organic Vs. Non-Organic
In recent years, there’s been a lot of concern about GMO crops and added chemicals. If you’re going for a purely organic garden, this may be something to be watchful for.
Much of the feedstock alfalfa is GMO. ‘Roundup Ready’ is a modified strain that holds up well with pesticide use. While this means they’re able to grow huge quantities with little pest damage, the drawback is that it has been treated with pesticides.
In small quantities, this doesn’t pose a major issue. However, over time, the pesticides can build up in your soil. Plants may have a harder time germinating in pesticide-laden soils. More fertilizer may be needed to keep plants healthy.
As a general rule, I recommend using an organic form whenever possible. This prevents you from any potential pesticide pollution in your garden. Check the labels on your box or bag of meal to see if they’re OMRI-certified.
Should You Grow Your Own Alfalfa?
Alfalfa is an excellent cover crop. Not only does it grow fast to act as a weed blocker, but it also puts down extremely deep roots. Those roots act like natural tillers, breaking up clay soil and aerating it.
It’s surprisingly easy to grow a crop of alfalfa. Broadcast your seeds over the surface of your soil. You can cover them with a thin layer of soil or just water them in. They’re slow to get started, but once they start putting up foliage, they can reach three feet in height.
How to Make Alfalfa Meal
Once they’re at full size and have started to flower, the adult alfalfa plant should be cut down and fermented. This fermentation process is anaerobic or done without air. During fermentation, the sugars convert to acids like lactic acid.
Silage, or haylage as alfalfa silage is sometimes called, is the finished product. After about two weeks of anaerobic conditions, the natural sugars break down. The resulting haylage can be used as animal feed, or dried and ground into a meal.
Use a sturdy grinder or food processor, to pulverize the alfalfa into a fine meal. Grinding increases the surface area of the alfalfa, making it more accessible to soil microorganisms that break down organic matter and release nutrients. You can incorporate it directly into the soil around your plants or mix it into your compost pile to enhance microbial activity and nutrient content.
Once ground into meal, it is often pressed into pellets or cubes to make it easier to store. It’s susceptible to rodents like mice, so it’s important to store your meal, pellets, or cubes safely.
How To Use Alfalfa Meal
You can spread alfalfa meal as a top cover or work it into the top few inches. Generally, it’s best to mulch overtop the meal if it’s top-layered. This keeps it from drying and blowing away. Follow these guidelines for how much alfalfa meal to use:
- Light use: 12 pounds per 1,000 square feet
- Medium use: 25 pounds per 1,000 square feet
- Heavy use: 50 pounds per 1,000 square feet
Adjust to suit your plant’s needs and the condition of your soil.
If you’re starting with pelletized or cubed meal, you can often use them as they are. Smaller-sized pellets like rabbit feed break down quickly when exposed to water.
Larger-sized cubes or pellets, like those meant for horses, should be broken down first. Place some in a five-gallon bucket and add water to cover. Wait for at least an hour, then use a potato masher to break apart the pellets or cubes.
Drain off the liquid from soaking, but don’t dump it out (see below). The meal can be worked through the soil as normal.
Only have a couple of plants that need fertilizing? No problem. Depending on the level of fertilization needed, you can use between 1/4 and 1/2 cups of fertilizer per plant. For larger plants like rose bushes, use one cup around the plant’s base.
Making Alfalfa Tea Fertilizer
To make alfalfa meal tea, use four cups in either meal or pelleted form to five gallons of water. I like to do this in a large bucket.
Be sure your water isn’t chlorinated, as chlorine reduces the microbial activity in the fertilizer. If all you have available is chlorinated water, fill the bucket three days in advance. Stir it at least twice a day. This allows the chlorine to evaporate.
Mix all ingredients well in your bucket and put on a lid. Stir at least once or twice per day and let it steep for seven days. This allows the mixture to ferment and develop beneficial bacteria.
Alfalfa tea can be used on a weekly basis as a fertilizer. You can use it as a foliar spray or a soil drench as preferred.
Even if you’re just breaking up alfalfa cubes in your water, keep the resulting water! You can allow that to ferment down into alfalfa tea as well. It’s a wonderful fertilizer in its own right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you get the benefits of alfalfa without using meal, pellets, or cubes?
Yes! Grow a cover crop over your plant beds. Cut it back as it starts to flower, leaving the cut vegetation on the soil surface as mulch. You should be able to cut and grow again a few times. A month before planting time, till it into the soil. The green matter will bulk up your soil and decompose to provide nutrients for your future plants.
What is alfalfa meal good for?
Alfalfa meal has a ton of uses, but it’s best in gardening for adding nitrogen, phosphorus, trace minerals, and potassium to soil.
What is alfalfa meal made of?
Alfalfa meal is ground up alfalfa plants. Sometimes it’s simply in meal form, and sometimes it comes in pellets or cubes.
When should I apply alfalfa meal?
Apply it as a soil amendment in spring just as the growing season begins. You’ll have the best results applying this organic fertilizer at this time.
Does alfalfa meal raise pH?
It does! Add alfalfa meal as a soil amendment to areas of the garden that need a more alkaline or neutral pH.
Does alfalfa improve soil?
Alfalfa plants and the resulting alfalfa meal do improve soil, providing better soil biomass, and higher macro and micronutrient content when applied as a soil amendment.
Does alfalfa meal attract rodents?
Like other types of organic fertilizer, alfalfa meal can attract rodents. Therefore, it’s best to store this soil amendment in a securely closed container made of durable materials.