A Detailed Guide to Alfalfa Planting Techniques and Field Management Methods

Alfalfa, also known as golden flower vegetable, is a type of forage grass, mostly growing wild, with high application value. In many regions it is used to feed poultry and make greenfeed, so it has certain prospects for cultivation. What are the alfalfa planting techniques?

1. Site selection and land preparation

For planting alfalfa, it is best to choose sandy soil or loam near a water source, with loose soil texture and moderate or slightly alkaline soil pH. Apart from clay soil, other types of land can also be used for planting, except that the yield and quality of alfalfa will differ relatively. When preparing the land, we must thoroughly remove the weeds in the field, so deep plowing is required, then break the soil up fine and level it, and finally spread a sufficient amount of organic fertilizer or farmyard manure as base fertilizer, after which you can wait to sow.

2. Seed treatment

Before planting, alfalfa seeds must be cleaned and then dried in the sun. Before sowing, pesticides, herbicides, rhizobia and fertilizer can be mixed in proportion for seed dressing to avoid pests and diseases during the seedling stage.

3. Sowing methods

Alfalfa seeds are generally sown in drills, with a row spacing of 30-40 cm. The currently promoted dense-ridge, sparse-planting technique uses a row spacing of 15-20 cm, which both increases yield and makes field management easier.

4. Field management

(1) Watering: After alfalfa seeds are planted, they need timely watering. When watering newly planted alfalfa to preserve the seedlings, it must be done after the seedlings have grown 3 true leaves and reached a plant height of more than 5 cm. Alfalfa roots cannot tolerate flooding; being submerged for 24 hours will cause death, so during the rainy season, standing water in the field should be drained promptly.

(2) Fertilizing: Before sowing alfalfa, sufficient base fertilizer must be applied, using 40-60 jin of calcium superphosphate and 4000 jin of barnyard manure per mu, applied at the same time.

(3) Weeding: After alfalfa turns green again, during the seedling stage, and before and after the second cutting, weeding must be carried out. Weeding is generally done after irrigation, and methods such as intertillage and chemical agents can be used for weed control.

(4) Pest and disease control: After alfalfa has grown for 4 years, pests and diseases will be relatively more numerous. Control can be carried out using chemicals, removing diseased leaves and other methods, but the most fundamental control measures still lie in selecting disease-resistant varieties and dressing seeds with chemicals before sowing.