For producers looking to plate late season alfalfa, now is the time to do so. Depending where you are in Nebraska, mid-July to mid-September is the best time to establish alfalfa stands.
However, planting now can be a bit riskier compared to waiting until the spring.
According to Dr. Megan Taylor, “The spring versus fall planting for alfalfa is always such a hard decision, because some of those fall planted stands, are the best stands you’ll ever see, but also are some of the worst stand you’ll ever see. Really the biggest thing is that moisture and weed pressure and timing are the really three key elements when it comes to establishing in fall.”
Taylor says that in Nebraska it is particularly difficult accounting for moisture, since it varies so much in different areas of the state.