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| Alfalfa and fescue should play well together. What you're seeing could be attributed to a number of things - disease, fertility deficiency (especially micros), drainage issues, compaction, etc. If nutrients are short, the fescue could be getting the lins share of the limited food and outcompeting the alfalfa and timothy in spots. This being new ground to you, it may take some time and detective work to determine the cause. Soil sampling is a must. Even though you say you can't afford to fertilize to removal rates, you should be able to feed a micro pack. My suspicion is you need boron and sulfur for the alfalfa. Very generally speaking, macro nutrient shortages lead to yield loss, while micro nutrient shortages lead to weak immune response and disease susceptilibity. Here in the Northeast, we've recently had to begin supplementing our NPK with S because our Midwestern neighbors have cleaned up their coal fired powerplants so much that we no longer receive enough S in the acid rain! | |
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How do you fertilize mixed hay in variable stands?
