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garden_grammie

Alfalfa tea recipe

garden_grammie
16 years ago

Could someone please post the recipe for Alfalfa Tea? I have read so many good things on the forum for this , that I definitely want to try it this year. I would like to go to the store and have everything handy so that when the time comes to apply it I will be ready. I live in zone 6 Chester County Pennsylvania. About 30 miles west of Philadelphia. Exactly when would I put it down? Do you drench the plant or just the root area? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Comments (17)

  • mike_rivers
    16 years ago

    The recipe by Howard Walters, the Rambling Rosarian, and linked below, is perhaps the classic recipe, but there are a million variations. You can drench the plant or just the root zone but the triacontanol growth stimulant is taken up by the roots (it's sometimes called a root stimulant) and I doubt if it can be taken up eassily by the leaves because triacontanol occurs naturally on the waxy surface of rose leaves. On the other hand, triacontanol probably isn't the only stuff in alfalfa tea that benefits a rose.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Howard Walters' Alfalfa Tea Recipe.

  • Terry Crawford
    16 years ago

    I had an idea this morning while I was doing laundry. Sounds strange, but bear with me. You know those lingerie/sweater bags? I am going to use those and add the cubes in them to use as a tea bag so I don't have the smelly junk to scoop out at the bottom of the trash can. When the cubes are done percolating, I'll just spread the leftover alfalfa around the roses or hostas and start another batch.

    Something good has to come of doing housework once in a while.
    -terry

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    16 years ago

    Old pantyhose works very well.

  • Terry Crawford
    16 years ago

    True also, but I gave up pantyhose when I retired last year. After 31 years of being forced to wear them in the office, I happily threw them all away.
    -t

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    16 years ago

    But they are so useful for all kinds of garden tasks! Especially attaching canes to fences, structures, etc.

  • erasmus_gw
    16 years ago

    Thanks for this recipe. I've never made alfalfa tea but just scratch in alfalfa meal. This year I plan to try the tea and might scratch some in for slow release. Does everyone make their tea with a trashcan full of water and about 12 cups of alfalfa? It sounds like not much alfalfa to me. Would it burn plants to put manure and alfalfa in the tea?
    Linda

  • garden_grammie
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks so very much for the recipe!!! I am off to the store so I have everything I need. Do you make this up just once during the growing season or do you apply it through out the season?

  • madcitymike
    16 years ago

    You'll find 12 cups of alfalfa pellets to be just about right for 32 gallons of water. They really swell when wet. I usually add a cup of epsom salts and a couple ounces of chelated iron as well. Any leftover solids can be spread on the garden or added to your compost pile.

    Mike

  • rosyone
    16 years ago

    I use 16 cups per 32 gallons of water, or a half cup per gallon.

    Last year I bought a bale of chopped alfalfa hay when I ran out of pellets and the feed store didn't have any on hand, and I'm not sure it didn't make a better tea. It was very rich looking, almost a fluorescent yellow. It reminded me of egg drop soup. And my roses and hostas loved it.

  • buford
    16 years ago

    I can't find meal, so I just soak the pellets for a few days until they make tea and get mushy. I then stir and pour this whole mixture around my roses. It looks and smells bad for awhile, but the roses love it.

  • erasmus_gw
    16 years ago

    Am glad to hear what amounts you all are using with good results. Does the smell escape the trashcan even with a lid on it?
    Linda

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    16 years ago

    You don't want to leave the lid on. It can explode if left too long.

    If you stir it and keep it aerated, that should lessen the smell. Mine didn't smell, but it got a nice foamy head on it, and I used it a day after the foam developed.

  • katefisher
    16 years ago

    Garden_Grammie:

    Thanks for your thread. I am really expanding my roses this year and have been thinking about Alfalfa Tea. Now I feel more confident about trying it. If you don't object to a little gentle thread hijacking I have a couple of questions:

    1) Why Epsom Salts?(in the fortified tea version) Is that to make the PH of the soil more rose friendly?

    2) Even though the smell is described as being unholy would raccoons find it interesting? We had a major coon invasion last year and I don't want to encourage the little rascals more.

    3) I have good access to coffee grounds. A friend has a coffee shop close by. What if I put some grounds in my alfalfa tea? Good, bad, or of not particular use?

    Thank you!

    Kate

  • patricianat
    16 years ago

    Buford, is there a place that sells farm products in your area, that sells horse feed? If so, go there and ask them to order the meal for you, it's about $10 (or less) for a huge bag.

  • mike_rivers
    16 years ago

    Katefisher

    A) Epsom Salts are a source of magnesium, a plant nutrient. Epsom Salts are also thought by some to stimulate new basal breaks. I think that most soils are not deficient in magnesium - if they were, you can bet most rose fertilizers would be formulated to provide magnesium and they are not. I have never seen any obvous effects of feeding Epsom Salts to my roses but I do see obvous and almost immediate effects of feeding them alfalfa. Epsom Salts have no effect on soil pH.

    B) Don't know about raccoons.

    C) Coffee grounds are a good soil amendment but I can't see why adding them to alfalfa tea would be helpful. I'd just add them directly to the soil around your roses - and, no, coffee grounds won't effect your soil pH, either.

  • katefisher
    16 years ago

    Thanks Mike. Appreciate your thoughts. The only reason I thought adding them to the tea would be to maybe save myself a step of applying tea and coffee grounds separately. Just apply them all at once. But either way I'm going to give it a shot.

    Kate

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