Thread: alfalfa meal
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Old April 24, 2012   #6
ddsack
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
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Good advice to be careful of the amount of pellets you use. I generously added dried alfalfa meal ( I assume that's what pellets are made of eventually) to my collection of potted tomatoes last year, and they started keeling over. Two had such damaged roots I threw them away, the rest I managed to save by repotting them into a less rich mixture. When I dumped the offending soil out, it had the sour smell just like fresh cow manure. This same stuff added to my in-ground garden did not have the same effect. I suppose without the pot wall barriers, it was able to leach further away from the plants, or the roots could grow away from it, or maybe the worms made a beeline for it. If I use it in pots again, I will top dress, not mix it in like I did, and use much less.
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