Julie
I have a hard time finding Orthonex as well, so I often go with straight Orthene which is the insecticide half of the Orthonex blend anyway if I just need to spray for bugs. Orthene is pretty harsh so I save that solution for major outbreaks of aphids and try to go with something more organic for light infestations. If I need both a systemic insecticide and a fungicide at the same time, Lowes sells one that just says "Systemic insect and disease control" on the label that works pretty good.
Alfalfa pellets, because they are formed for animal feed have several disadvantages. First of all, they may contain "fillers" including salt and other things that aren't beneficial to plants. Alfalfa itself contains a chemical that is a plant stimulant.....that why I particularly like to use it in seedling beds because it pushes the plants into rapid growth and increase. The heat process that makes alfalfa into pellets destroys this chemical. You will still have the nitrogen left in the pellets so they still have a use in feeding your plants nitrogen during a time that plants need a lot of nitrogen.....they will just lose a little of their edge in promoting increase that you would get with meal. A third downside of pellets is that they generate "heat" as they decompose. Many people in the north use alfalfa for late fall plantings for that reason alone.....pellets keep the ground warm a little longer to give plants time to develop roots before the ground freezes solid. But heat up next to daylily crowns or right under daylily crowns can generate so much heat that they rot your crowns, particularly if you use them during hot weather. So you need to be very careful when mixing pellets into the soil that they are mixed into the soil around the perimeter of the plant (where the feeder roots are) and not right next to the crown. I don't like pellets on top of the soil because they take longer to decompose....and they become a magnet from "critters". Skunks love em, so do rabbits. So I use the meal, water it in the same day, and cover with the mulch all in the same day to avoid the critter problem. If all you can get is pellets, just make sure you check for other ingredients, especially salt and pick the smallest pellets, not the largest that you can find. The largest ones generate way too much heat and can kill your roots.
