Gabe -- Tractor Supply caters to horse owners. The brand of hay pellets that they carry is Standlee. Standlee is a large company in Idaho that markets several types of hay products from three different types of hay: Timothy, Orchard and Alfalfa. Timothy and Orchard are grass hays. Alfalfa actually isn't a hay at all, but is a legume. Many horse owners like to feed their horses Alfalfa, but the truth of it is that Alfalfa is pretty rich, and has to be fed with care. Mixing it with a grass hay is one way to not over-feed Alfalfa -- and so Standlee offers a pelletized version of the Alfalfa/Timothy mix. Standlee offers these hay products in several different formats: pelletized, cubed, shredded and regular bales. Not all retailers carry all varieties. Our local Tractor Supply stores carry the pelletized and the cubed. I use the pellets myself (of Timothy and Orchard -- no Alfalfa).

And there is more than you ever wanted to know about hay pellets.

For your purposes, you want the plain Alfalfa pellets. The Alfalfa/Timothy won't hurt anything, but you're paying for 40 lbs. of Alfalfa and getting 20 lbs. because it's mixed. See? So just wait until they have the plain Alfalfa back in stock. If they don't have a spot for it in your TS store, tell the store manager that you just want plain Alfalfa pellets -- he can probably order it for you.

Gabe - Southern States carries alfalfa if you have one in your area. Thinking of visiting mine this weekend to get alfalfa and some lime. You know the soil is acidic when moss starts growing in the garden!

I had to take a trip across the border to SC yesterday. I ended getting that same brand. Now my irises can tranform into mustangs!

I get alfalfa pellets at Rural King (that opened here less than a year ago). They a couple of bucks cheaper than Tractor Supply and they carried bone meal and blood meal last fall that was a bit cheaper than Lowe's. It's such a fun store for me, I browse the agricultural tools and equipment, animal feeds, baby chicks and rabbits, etc. for hours. They have 3 or 4 aisles of dog food! I checked their locations, looks like aside from some Florida locations, this one is the furthest southeast- the rest are to the north and west of here.

I saw there are locations in Wisconsin- Tom, do you have a Rural King nearby?

I hadn't heard of Rural King before, but I see that there are several in the Milwaukee area, the closest one being in Lake Geneva. That's a half hour away. I have Farm and Fleet here in my city which has just about anything I could want that's farm related. They are a Wisconsin based company, so I patronize them. There are Tractor Supply stores about a half hour away too, and they are consistently higher priced then Farm and Fleet.

Wow, the rain showers swole the pellets to the size of catapillars.

Well in the bottom right corner of your posting it does say "Gimme it and I'll grow it"

Phillipb2 said:Well in the bottom right corner of your posting it does say "Gimme it and I'll grow it"

Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel,
The photo on the package is what grows when you water what's inside. You'll have yourself a whole herd!!

So you are suggesting alfalfa pellets as a super fertilizer? What about mixing with a low rot type of potting mix to grow first year rhizomes over winter?

What is a low rot type of potting soil? Garden soil? Topsoil? I usually mix sand into mine. I usually see mold on alfalfa pellets after the rain so I use them sparingly but I do use them.

I have Alfalfa growing wild... Can I just harvest that and mix it into the soil?

worth a try?

I read an article in an older AIS Bulletin concerning the use of alfalfa....I'll try to hunt it up, as I don't remember all the particulars, but "fresh" alfalfa would have the same "mix" of hormones, and the same 'basic" mix of nutrients, although the nitrogen content would be higher that the dried. Alfalfa has been used as a 'cover crop", for ages, and ages, because it does improve both the soil, and the quality of the crop.....and generally it "plowed under green", so I guess harvesting your own would work.....the only downside I can see is the 'fresh" would contain a lot of 'water"....so you would be handling a lot of "green alfalfa", to get the same amount that comes pelletized in a 50# sack !
I get mine at a local feed mill, and I think a bag of pellets (or meal, which I sometimes buy) is about $12-$13.

So how big was it when you planted it?

LynnG said:So how big was it when you planted it?

This is in reference to ????? Maybe I need more coffee.