Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Alfalfa - Anyone planted it?

Has anyone every planted Alfalfa?

Read that deer love it?

Is it hard on the soil? Hard to grow? Is it throw and grow like wheat/rye?

Hard to grow, bugs like it after time, kinda gotta baby it year round. Deer do love it.

Need a really good seed bed. Clover is much easier to maintain. Unless you plan on lots of TLC and have good spray equipment it isn't an easy crop to plant.

Unless you plan on haying it regularly I wouldn’t put in the effort. It requires constant maintenance.

It is really finicky, soil has to be perfect. Unless you have a big plot, the deer will wipe it out as soon as you can see it. Been there, done that

Pretty sure FurFlyin had some success with it. Maybe he’ll chime in.

Thx. I knew several of you would know more than me about it.

Grew up in Oklahoma and deer love it there!

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4002027&Searchpage=3&Main=277680&Words=%2BAlfalfa&Search=true#Post4002027

Here’s a good discussion from a while back.

EDIT…..can’t figure out how to get the link to work. Search alfalfa and look for FurFlyin’s post. It was the last one on my display.

BB I planted some Bulldog 805 a little late this spring, and it did pretty good until it got hot and the rain stopped. I got back into it in late august and sprayed it pretty heavy to kill the weeds out of it, and broadcast another 10 pounds ahead of some rain. The spring planted plants have really perked up in the last month. I did cut the field too.

I also planted some Alfagraze 600 on another plot this fall, at the same time I was broadcasting the extra bull dog. Its come up pretty good, and deer seem to like it. It's a RR variety. I am probably going to get another 5 to 10 pounds of it and broadcast it next month. It's a little more than $10/lb. Bulldog is about half that.

I really haven't seen alot of traffic on the Bulldog plot, but I haven't been seeing much field traffic, so maybe I have a good acorn crop this year.

I like clover more than anything, but the last 3 summers have been rough on it. I am trying this to see if it can get a deep enough root system to do a little better with the alfalfa. My clover plots are thickening back up now that we have had some rain and I hit them with some 0-46-0. Really if you can get it to grow, Whitetail clover is the best forage I have planted in terms of deer usage. I think if you plan on just putting more seed into each plot every season, you can maintain it pretty well. It gets a little thin in the hot/dry summer. If you can get it some shade, it will do better.

I will say if you order from Whitetail, they will start sending you specials. I usually stock up on clover from them in late august, and get 2 18 pound bags for about 40 to 50 bucks off retail.

Basically just scratched up the ground with a rake and spread seed and it took off. Deer love it but clover stays green a little longer in the season.

I still think Whitetail clover is the best food plot forage. I see more traffic on my heavy whitetail clover plot than anywhere else.

I was curious. I occasionally see references to it being great for deer. I didn't know how hard it was to grow. It is expensive, but if it lasts ~4-5 season it would be worth it. From the experience of you guys it seems like it is more work than I can do from Tampa. Appreciate it.

Here is what I got this year:
https://hancockseed.com/collections...ucts/hancock-s-buck-buffet-food-plot-mix

I hunt ~40miles east of Dothan (in GA). Gonna plant Nov 9th, and our rut is Dec 20th. Hopefully it all works out.

Plus I will put out a bunch of golden acorns. Those always seem to produce (haha).

Seems like anything different it takes the deer a little time to realize that it is food. After halloween, last year, I put out pumpkins and they rotted.

I think it would be easier to grow 1/2 inch rebar than it is to grow alfalfa