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northeastern Ohio | I have been told by breeders that most modern alfalfa's have had the autotoxicity issue bred out of them. There are several issues that cause stand thinning:
1) physical damage to the plants
2) disease
3) competition
4) nutrient availability (and pH) at root depth (including water)
The first issue will not affect future stands, but the other 3 will.
By killing the remaining alfalfa plants now, you can break the disease cycle by allowing a winter as well as time to reduce the disease pressure.
Competition is weeds or other species in you mix. I would do a full stand kill and plant wheat this fall (or oats in the spring).
Pull some soil samples and split each core in half (0-3" and 3-6"). If you need to address deep nutrient issues, then you need to get nutrients/lime on now in order to allow time for them to work their way down the soil profile in no-till ground.
A single alfalfa plant can dry out the ground around it. This makes it difficult for new seedlings to compete when the existing plant has a deep tap root to find water when it needs it.
Once you take care of the above issues, you can reseed alfalfa. | |
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Alfalfa
