Is It a Good Time To Spread Lime And Potash On My Alfalfa Fields?

By Sjoerd Duiker

Perhaps your soil test called for lime and potassium and you are wondering if now would be a good time to take care of that. This is not a good idea for two reasons:

• The alfalfa plants are starting to sprout and you will do a lot of damage when you drive on them now. This will hurt production. In a multi-state project the effect of traffic on alfalfa was measured. The project found that driving on alfalfa that had new buds sprouting caused yield reductions of 8-35%.
• The soil is still quite wet (although it may not look wet at the surface) and soil compaction is a real possibility. Compaction has many negative effects, such as inhibition of root growth, reduced nutrient uptake due to rooting limitations, reduced aeration, and increased runoff. If you urgently need to apply lime and potash it is better to wait until after first cutting. Make sure these products are applied before the new buds start sprouting after harvest. This usually means the traffic should happen within 3-4 days of harvest.

Source:psu.edu