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North Dakota | It is likely that Autotoxicity comes from the "Crown" of the alfalfa plant and will affect the ground for as much as 8" around the plant. It may also be true that the 1st season alfalfa is planted it doesn't seem to be an issue.
Is it possible to disturb the soil every year in some fashion to prevent the build up of this chemical? I have seen proof that when the alfalfa plant is in it's dormancy the field can be made black with a disk and it will not affect the next season's production in this area anyway. The field can also be sliced 8" deep, 6" apart and it will set the grass back some the following season but the alfalfa appears to not be negatively affected.
Then to eliminate this chemical, you kill the plant and wait for 2 seasons, (of course the ground is used for another type of grain or grass during this time) then you are able to plant alfalfa back into this soil.
How much of your soil around the alfalfa plant is affected? Obviously it is established that an 8" radius around the plant is affected, how deep is this ground contaminated within that 16" circle?
What purpose does the crown have?
Is it's soul purpose designed to protect the original plant from competition by preventing the germination of seed near to the original plant? I assume that since alfalfa originated in an arid environment that (as nature does) it developed this chemical as a self preservation thing against competing alfalfa plants.
How many, if any, other types of plants does this chemical affect?
In case anyone is interested. Here, our 1st snow came about 4" on ground that hadn't frozen yet and stayed till the beginning of Dec. RAIN in Dec has taken it away or turned it into ice. On my "no 2nd cutting" rule I made for myself, well, I caved in to the greed and took some, about 240 bales worth from around 200 acres. The neighbor needed it and put it up on shares. I did no cutting after the end of Aug. and of course did not cut in every field. I really did think that the regrowth would be good enough to catch snow but after August it did not grow at all.
The snow cover we received was truly a blessing and covered these cut acres well. Where no 2nd cutting occurred every snowflake stayed on the field.
so far so good
Happy Holidays everyone. Remember the reason for the season. | |
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Alfalfa / autotoxicity
