Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK | |
Oklahoma Alfalfa |
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How Much Water Does Alfalfa Need? |
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Anyone who has grown alfalfa even a few years knows it needs a lot of water to produce high tonnage. In fact, on the average, alfalfa needs about 6" of water in the soil available to the roots for each ton of dry matter produced. If your soil can store 2 inches of water per foot of depth and roots go down to 10 feet, you should be able to produce about 3.3 tons. If the roots are only 2 feet deep (the case of some of the seedlings), production will be limited to recent rain because so little is stored within reach of the roots. Where does this water come from?
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John
Caddel, Forage Agronomist
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences Oklahoma State University |