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Alfalfa tea?
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Posted by
boncrow66 none (
My Page) on
Sat, Sep 13, 14 at 22:08
| I have been researching alfalfa tea and googled the recipe and it sounds line roses love it but also like a lot of work. What do most of you prefer, alfalfa tea or scratching in alfalfa pellets? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Tea. Because, for one thing, I have dogs -- I don't want them digging out the alfalfa cubes. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Good point Jeri, I didn't think about dogs wanting to dig up the pellets. I have 2 little inside dogs but given the chance they would love to dig in the garden. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Putting the meal (not pellets) around the plants, watering in, and walking away. Tried the tea once, not worth the trouble to me. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I prefer the meal like Diane, a lots less work. Also if you go with the tea, don't make the mistake a friend did. He made his 1st batch of tea in his attached garage & the odor entered his house....he gets reminded of it very frequently by his wife & kids. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I go for the easiest method. Scatter the pellets around the roses, lightly mix them into the surface of the soil, and give the pellets a good watering in with a stiff spray from your hose. The pellets break down into a wet "mush" while you are watering them in. Put mulch down over the disintegrating pellets--to retain the moisture (and distract pets from digging there?). I haven't particularly noticed any increase in smells as a result of doing it that way. Make sure whatever form you get that it isn't salted. Kate |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Thanks everyone for the advice! I'll check my local feed store for meal and if they don't have it will use the pellets. I don't think I want to mess with making the tea right now. Although maybe when I retire in several years I might try it since I will have more time on my hands. Does anyone add anything else to the Alfalfa? A friend of mine mentioned she adds blood/bone meal and Epsom salt and a half cup of osmocote. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I do not add anything to the alfalfa. At other times, I do the normal feeding with either Osmocote or Rose-Tone (or Plant-Tone). Occasionally, at a different time, I might add some manure around the roses. But there are times when I'm too lazy to do much of any of the above. My roses still go on blooming. : ) Kate |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Thanks kate! I have one more question, how long between puting down the alfalfa do you wait to use your other fertilizer like rose -tone? |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Rose-Tone (or Plant-tone) is a slow-acting fertilizer, so I have never worried one bit about how much time there is between applying it and alfalfa. Sometimes I apply them at the same time. By the way, the --Tones all have some alfalfa in them already. Other than that, I don't think there is any overlap between the --Tone fertilizers (or even the Osmocote fertilizer) and the alfalfa. So no problems. But do check which Osmocote you use. Some versions are quite high in nitrogen. Many rose gardeners would want to avoid that, whether they were using alfalfa or not. Myself, I use the high nitrogen Osmocote for my hanging baskets of annuals (like petunias)--they use up that nitrogen quickly. Good luck with your alfalfa application. It is really pretty straightforward. Kate |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Thanks again Kate! I think I got it lol. I just don't want to make a mistake and burn my roses but it sounds like i should be ok. I'm super excited about next spring to put all this info to good use ad watch my roses grow grow grow! Who knew alfalfa would make me excited to ferilize lol |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| You can purchase alfalfa tea bags from Annie Haven at manuretea.com. She also sell manure tea bags. I purchased 12 alfalfa tea bags and have used them since spring. All you do is put a tea bag in a five gallon container and fill it with water, and presto! You have alfalfa tea in 1-3 days. It is very easy and affordable! I have had great results. It helps jump start basil breaks. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Dizzylizzy thanks for the info on the alfalfa tea bags. I went to the web site and it's good to know you can purchase alfalfa in tea bags although it also makes me wonder how hard could it be to make my own tea bags? Maybe cut up some old panty hose and make my own, defenitley something to consider. OR just buy the ones already made up and forget about it lol. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| You're right, boncrow. It should be very easy to make up the bags yourself, and pantyhose is a great idea! You might need to decide how much alfalfa per pantyhose (for soaking in 5 gal. container), but once determined, that would be easy to do. Kate |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I think I remember seeing where someone had mentioned how much alfalfa per gallon you use when I googled the recipe. I'll have to look again and figure it out. Making tea bags for 5 gallons seems less daunting than making 30 gallons at one time plus I don't have many roses so I could get away with 5 gallons. At least until I acquire more roses lol! |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| And I use a modified Papu recipe. Alfalfa, fish emulsion, seaweed extract and Epsom salts. The roses love it. Smells pretty bad for a day or two. Good root stimulant. Pet food store have those big air tight containers and they are pretty convenient for this purpose. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| What's the original Papu recipe? I googled but couldn't find it. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Pappu was a rose gardener who used to post and grew the most gorgeous roses. He was the author of one of the funniest threads I ever read about making alfalfa tea (back when this was a new idea). We used to "tune in" daily for the latest report of Pappu's misadventures in tea-making. The link below will take you to a thread where everyone is asking if anyone has Pappu's recipe. If you scroll down to near the end of that thread, someone saved all the posts chronicling Pappu's misadventures and reproduced them there, so you can read it for yourself and piece together the recipe he used. You might also try searching on the Rose Gallery page for pictures of pappu's roses. They were truly gorgeous! Pappu has not posted now for a number of years. I don't know why. Kate |
Here is a link that might be useful: Stinking Mess thread
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Actually, Pappu's pictures of his gorgeous roses are listed in the same search I used to find the recipe info. See the link below. Kate |
Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Flush 08
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Kate I just read the thread about Pappus stinking mess with the alfalfa tea and it was hilarious! I literally laughed out loud. And then I looked at the spring flush thread and all I can say is WOW. I want my roses to look like that! Just spectacular and glorious to behold. Kinda makes me want to try Pappus stinking tea lol. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I know what you mean about laughing out loud--imagine rushing each morning to your computer to get the latest installment on Pappu's story. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at an online story. If you do some searching, I think he posted some other pictures also--at least I think I remember seeing some. Aren't his roses amazing! Let us know how it goes if you decide to make Pappu's stinking tea. Myself, I've never been tempted. Kate |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I think I might try alfalfa tea bags first and go from there lol. The part about the lid on that awful concoction moving and watching it thru the patio window cracked me up. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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- Posted by jim1961 6a Central Pa. (My Page) on
Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 22:29
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| I've purchased organic alfalfa meal from FEDCO this year. I'm very happy with that. I've used the pellets in the past, but I prefer the meal. I don't mix alfalfa tea, I just scratch in the appropriate amount of alfalfa meal around the base of the rose, away from the trunk and out to the drip line. Then I cover that with bark mulch and water. I do it once in early spring and then again after the first flush of bloom. This year, I can really see a big difference with that second application. My Julia Child rose right now looks wonderful. New growth, healthy foliage and a good amount of roses for this time of year. |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Thanks Prairiemoon I am going to look for the meal as well and try that next spring. I know I'm being silly but I just can't help being excited about fertilizing next spring because of how great my roses are going to look afterwards! |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| Not silly at all. Always nice to figure something out that might improve the garden. :-) |
RE: Alfalfa tea?
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| So true, it's always good to learn something new. If I hadn't been on the forum I wouldn't have learned about different ways to ferilize, so I'm thankful for all the good advice and ready to put it to use. When I was a little girl my mom would make sun tea, she would put the tea bags in a big glass pitcher filled with water and sit it in the window in the sun all day and that night she would add sugar and it would be the best sweet tea ever! I think I am going to try the same approach with alfalfa tea bags and hopefully have good results with my roses, minus the sugar of course :) and I won't drink it lol, just the roses. |
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