For those of you with experience planting and maintaining alfalfa, please give me some pointers. I'll be planting in north Talladega county. Better to plant fall or spring? Dormancy level? 505 or 805? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Talk to a fella named fur on here. He seemed knowledgeable

If you can afford it, go with RR. I liked spring better, dew to moisture, but fall worked also.

You have a link? Saw you had to have a Monsanto number on one website.

Furflyin is the resident Aldeer alfalfa expert

Yes, I PM him, no reply as off yet.

The Bulldog 505 is more suited for piedmont and upper coastal plain soils. The 805 was developed for lower coastal plain soils. I mixed some 805 in a ladino clover plot this fall. I limed earlier but don’t think I had the rain to start breaking it down. I’m tempted to try some more in another spot if this planting takes off.

I think I’d stick with one of the Bulldog varieties over a RR variety. I can use Beyond/Imox or Pursuit for broadleaf weed control and Clethodim for grasses.

I have a Monsanto number. Its not super hard to get one.

I’m curious if it goes completely dormant during January/February like it does ip north?

I planted 805 last fall and it did exceptionally well. Had three cuttings on it this summer. I’ll say the deer absolutely love it.
You need to be able to keep it cut and ideally not with a bush hog. The 805 goes dormant but remains green and the deer feed on it through the winter. The RR variety is indeterminate growth so continues growing through the winter.

Did you drill yours in? I would have to broadcast mine. I’m interested in giving it a try this Spring.

Some of you guys with spare land to experiment with try planting sainfoin

Broadcast mine at 20lbs/acre of seed mixed in a fertilizer buggy on a cultipacked seed bed then cultipack seed/fertilizer in

You recon it would work with thrown mow? Serious question I would love to try it in a field to see if it works here.

So wet in February and March, not sure you could risk. No rain in the fall. It's a damn conundrum.

👍

I am not interested in cutting mine, just use it for forage. Do I still need to cut it?

Interesting

I AINT SKEERED. WHERE CAN I GET IT?

Not positive of best place, but several places on the Google/Amazon. Buddy of mine is on.a pollinator program in TN and has someone in the Shelbyville,TN area getting him some seed for next spring. Landowner I hunt on in Idaho plants it for his deer and elk.