Crop analysis- Alfalfa Hay

 

Crop analysis- Alfalfa Hay

By: Connor Ingham

                Alfalfa hay is a leguminous plant that is grown mainly for silage, animal feed, or for a nitrogen supplying cover crop. Alfalfa, unlike most other plants, can grow for up to five production years after the first cutting of hay is complete. Commonly, alfalfa is mixed with other types of grasses, such as timothy hay, or oats that provide wind protection and frost protection during the winter, due to alfalfa’s low height. To begin the planting process, alfalfa can be planted with just a dusting of soil, typically in well drained areas for best quality, during any summertime month. The plant will surface normally within 15 days where it will grow into stems with generally a distinctive tri leaf design. This trend will continue as the plant gains a bush like shape into the mature age (around a height of 12 inches). Once the plant is mature, purple flowers will begin to emerge from the plant, that will indicate that the plant is ready for use. If the plant is left, these flowering buds will turn into seed pods, and will transfer the plant into a late maturity stage. Typically, the plant will only reach one maturity status during its first production year; however in the later years of an alfalfa plant’s life, this stage will be reached by early June allowing the plant to reach typically 2-3 maturity levels during the year. If the plant is cut at this stage, the deep nitrogen fixed roots of the plant (that can reach a depth of over 15 feet!) will remain, along with the heads of the plant steams, which the plant will use as the basis for regrowth in similar stages to that of the first growth. Once alfalfa has been cut for the last time of the year, the plant will cease to grow after 2 weeks of freezing temperatures have been achieved. The plant will convert starches found in the crown of the plant (main stalk) to an anti-freeze sugar that will keep the roots and crown from reaching a deep freeze during the winter months, typically down to 5 degrees before the cells start to crystalize. During the spring months, alfalfa will begin to regrow off the main crown, once warmer temperatures are achieved, similar to how the plant would grow after a cutting. In the second year of growth, as well as the subsequent years after that, alfalfa may need additional fertilizers to speed up growth with supplements such as potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, and boron being applied during the spring. After three years of growth, alfalfa will noticeably change forms as the plant begins to shut down regeneration. For example, the crown will become denser, stems will be more durable, and the plant may take longer to grow from cutting to cutting. This will mean that alfalfa will eventually be unusable for its desired tasks, and the plants will need to be plowed under for a new seed bed. Typically, it is not recommended to plant hay on hay in the following year due to extensive roots that may not decay in time, however, alfalfa aerates the soil when tilled providing an ideal seed bed for a new crop of corn or soybeans, etc.