A handful or 2. I work them into the soil and then water. They will immediately start to break down.

rocklady said:Hope they get their stock replenished soon. I need some sooner rather than later!

Ask them when they get their trucks in and that way you will know when to go get some.

Gleni said:I finally found the pellets after searching for weeks. US$7.50 for 11 pounds of lucerne (= alfalfa) pellets. I found them in the guinea pig section of a local produce store. This might be expensive.

How much do you put per clump? A handful?

I use a handful or two or 3

@Tink3472 Thanks. I will do that.

rocklady said:@Tink3472 Thanks. I will do that.

You could always ask them to order some in just for you if they will.

I was confused a bit by the different ones when looking. The Standlee at my TSC was the Alfalfa Timothy Grass & I didn't think I wanted that. So I bought Dumore brand. I will look around more the next time. We were expecting rain Monday when I bought mine....that is why I got it that day. But the rain did not arrive until the middle of the night at my house. So I did have to chase some bunnies out of the beds and when I saw a doe in the yard around 10pm I thought OH NO!!!!! Was afraid that all my plants would be gone by morning. But all was fine.

Alfalfa – a Powerful Plant Growth Stimulant.

Alfalfa contains Triacontanol a naturally occurring stimulant will significantly boost the growth of your plants. Alfalfa is mostly a nitrogen source....but the worms love it and it brings them in to keep the soil churned and fertilized.

Alfalfa meal can usually be purchased at agricultural feed stores. Be careful when applying dry alfalfa meal, it's very light and dusty, and although its dust is nontoxic, it can create respiratory problems if inhaled.

Greensand

Greensand provides a lot of trace nutrients and potash and lasts about 3 years. Don't overdo it.... too much produces massive root balls with tons of hair roots. It's really good for your seedling beds because it gets your seedlings well rooted real fast. I like that it's a slow release fertilizer. The trace minerals also give richness to your flower and foliage colors.

Every time I plant I mix some alfalfa meal (about a half cup) and some greensand (about a quarter cup), into each planting hole.

If you have trouble finding greensand and alfalfa meal you can use Espoma products call "PlantTone" and "FlowerTone" which are organics that have both alfalfa and greensand in them as well as some bone meal and other things. All organics are safe to use in the fall as they are "low power" fertilizers and won't burn your plants or get them growing again when they should be going down for the winter soon.

Alfalfa will keep your soil warm longer... in Michigan it generates some soil heat on late plantings.

Good explanation Kathy

What Kathy said. I use Alfalfa in the fall/winter in FL because it does create heat as it breaks down. That just won't work here in the spring as the temperatures rise by leaps and bounds!

@florange That's good to know about Florida, Arlene.

Paul2032 said:A handful or 2. I work them into the soil and then water. They will immediately start to break down.

How often do you use them in the same beds or on the same plants?
ie, once a season, or--

secondary question: what happens (if anything) if you over use them?

I use them once or twice a year......when I get around to it. Unless you piled them right against the plant I don't think a few more would be a problem.

I keep forgetting to pick these up. I was at Rural King last week looking for implement paint. I hope to start on a couple of barn quilts. Wish me luck. I have wanted to make one for 2 yrs. I am a bit slow to getting around to doing all my projects.

http://www.boonebarnquilts.com...

[quote="farawayfarmer"]

How often do you use them in the same beds or on the same plants?
ie, once a season, or--

secondary question: what happens (if anything) if you over use them?[/quote

I know this question wasn't for me but I try and put the pellets down 4 times a year (every 3 months) but at least 3 times. I do it in the fall when I redo the beds or if leaving the beds alone I add it around the clump I am replenishing. When I am replanting the beds, if it is completely empty, I till in the pellets along with whatever else I'm adding to the beds. Then a few weeks later I will plant everything and as I do I add a large handful to the hole and mix in then plant the daylily and backfill some and then add a little more alfalfa (sometimes I skip this step) and then fill in all the way. After I am done with the bed I will top dress with alfalfa also; this is around October. Then near the end of January (if it's not too cold) I pour more down in the beds in between the rows of daylilies. In April I will pour more down in the beds. July I will do it again and that will carry me until October when I redo the beds.
If every 4 months then it would be Oct., Feb., May. I have not found that the pellets get too hot for me since we water every day and it breaks it down rather quickly. I would be the queen of over using alfalfa and I have found that I have yet to over use it and cause any problems. However, like I said I water every day so it helps to break it down. Tommy Maddox I believe said when he puts his alfalfa down he waters it in for several hours (may be about 6 hours) to break it down.

bluegrassmom said:I keep forgetting to pick these up. I was at Rural King last week looking for implement paint. I hope to start on a couple of barn quilts. Wish me luck. I have wanted to make one for 2 yrs. I am a bit slow to getting around to doing all my projects.

http://www.boonebarnquilts.com...

That kick-started my memories. My mother had a quilting frame. I grew up in a Victorian house, with screened porches wrapping around two sides. She used to have quilting parties. This was in the 40s and 50s. An era now mostly forgotten, except for a few of us old fogies.

I also use alfalfa pellets usually ends up once a year because I seem to get busy with other things, anyway I love what the alfalfa does for all kinds of plants including shrubs besides daylilies.

Just bought a 40 pound bag of alfalfa pellets at TSC. They only had three bags left, but assured me that more were on the way. We're going to start putting them around the daylilies this evening, just as soon as the heat of the day has passed.

Speaking of quilts, I just remembered something. Quilting is alive and well down in Lakeland, Florida. A friend of ours lives in one of those gated golf course communities down there, and the community has an active quilting club, complete with examples hanging in an activity room in the clubhouse that's used for various hobby/activity groups.

Utah is becoming more urban but there are still many rural areas. Alfalfa Pellets are easily available. I will put some on my Hostas in about a month. Quilting has been mentioned. My late wife was a quilter. There is a lot of interest in quilting here.

Those are beautiful!