Botanicals

[SeaMaiden]

DDG, how'd you figure out those were GMO-based pellets? I'm still trying to get my local feed store to bring in bulk molasses. They. Just. Won't. <rolls eyes>

I'm still going to sprout my own because alfalfa sprouts are the base for my fresh rolls.

 

[Scrappy4]

Darc, that is my long term plan too, just grow my own. I have a couple acres in barley now and once i can get a tractor, I want to put at least part of that in alfalfa. It will be mostly a food plot for elk and deer, But i definitely will use some on my medical plants and vegetable garden.....scrappy

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

DDG, how'd you figure out those were GMO-based pellets? I'm still trying to get my local feed store to bring in bulk molasses. They. Just. Won't. <rolls eyes>

I'm still going to sprout my own because alfalfa sprouts are the base for my fresh rolls.

hey sea maiden,
i asked the guy at the feed store and he said it wasn't organic and was most likely GMO. i don't know how knowledgeable he was of his own products but his pellets were for rabbits or pet rodents and they looked grey in color and really shitty and old, not to be trusted. his soybean meal was GMO and non organic and looked really white, also shitty in my opinion. he said he thinks almost everything he has is not what i want. the only thing i buy from him now is bird seed.
i bought my alfalfa meal and soybean meal (organic non GMO) from Homestead Organics and it was shipped to a different feed store that supplies a few organic products but never has those items in stock. the alfalfa meal is a fine texture and bubbles nicely in my botanicals making the water super green.
when i want something that i can't get i call suppliers and put pressure on them to provide their distributors with the products, no eye rolling over here. i hate when they tell me no, so i jump over their heads and get at the guys in charge. they hate that so i usually get free shit for repetitive emails and phone calls because i'm polite but relentless. people like me are the reason why i won't work in sales. maybe take my approach and complain up the ladder... couldn't hurt.

DDG

 

[SeaMaiden]

Ah, I've already spoken directly with the owner on a few occasions. She insists she can't get it, so I provided her with the name and contact information of an outfit in Stockton. Nothing ever came of it. I might be able to purchase from them but they wanted a business tax ID#, and I don't have that at this time, just operating as owner/operator with my SS#.

I've been in sales. Cold-calling is the worst and I won't do it. Soft sales I'm good at, but.. yeah, there's the PITA factor, aka the asshole factor. Asking questions isn't being an asshole to me, it's being interested.

 

[W89]

here is a PDF with some good info on dynamic accumulators

http://permaculturetools.wikispaces.com/file/view/Nutrient+and+Dynamic+Accumulators.pdf

 

[MrSterling]

Man they said Tulsi is sensitive to frost but I just had six very small plants ride out 30 degree weather overnight on the porch. I'd forgotten about them and expected them dead.

 

[W89]

are you growing it in pots? I thought you had to grow these types outside to take advantage of the nutrients they accumulate? o are they for something other that nutrient accumulation?

 

[DARC MIND]

both my african and holy basil dont seem to mind our mild winters here

 

[W89]

More dried comfrey!

 

[Oregonism]

Processing is the only real difference I can discuss, and since I don't know how meal is processed, there isn't much to discuss with me, though others may have more to offer, I'm sure. The sweepings I get from the local feed shop are mostly leaf and flower (dried, of course) of the alfalfa........

What I'm more curious about is the difference between alfalfa pellets (feed) and meal. Comparatively, the meal is much more expensive than the pellets, which soften up and break down into smaller pieces fairly quickly, and in which bits of the actual alfalfa are easily distinguished with the naked eye.

I researched for a while about DIY Meals. I wanted to take some of my collected nettle and make into meal. Meal is just essentially flour and there is no set consistency. @ GardeningWeb, many people were using a Nutrimill or Wondermill to make meals, but they are too expensive for my blood.

Believe it or not, I just use cheap ass $5 coffee grinders until they die. But they are small amounts only, which is tough to compete with 50lbs of alfafa meal/pellets. Although, I bought a bag of kelp meal and my dried nettle sliced and diced in the grinder was of similar consistency.

Aren't most pellets just extruded, I believe there is heat extrusion, which might be good or bad enzymtically. There might be a cold process, but something has to bind them: mechanical pressure, glue substance, heat, etc.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I think some sort of starch is used to hold the pellets together, but the goal is to make a feed that's like hay, but much easier to ration out, keep controlled, make sure is ingested by the animal, yadda yadda yadda. If you examine the pellets closely they're really mostly chopped (and often rather bruised) alfalfa bits. Once water hits them they begin to break down, as I think I said previously. I use them outside in place of hay where I want to get more N, so they'll go down as a top-dressing that's immediately watered, unless I'm preparing a bed, then I'll turn them under or cover with compost.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

I could be completely wrong, but I was under the impression that alfalfa pellets were held together w/molasses.

Scrappy- Do you have any idea on how much an acre of planted alfalfa would produce? I've got a friend that I was just talking w/ last night about doing just this sort of thing. We are thinking of doing a lil worm business and selling starter plants this spring as well.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

I could be completely wrong, but I was under the impression that alfalfa pellets were held together w/molasses

You're not wrong - then again the organic, non-GMO alfalfa in Oregon doesn't require a Federal Tax ID# in order to walk into any feed store to purchase so it's probably not like a uber-duber special alfalfa - just plain ol' organic alfalfa.

No mystery, no FUD involved, no special dispensation to figure out.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I could be completely wrong, but I was under the impression that alfalfa pellets were held together w/molasses.

So I was right, a kind of starch. Thanks.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Round here I have a hard time finding organic alfalfa unless it comes in a tiny little box for way too much.
Crazy thing is alfalfa grows everywhere here. For some reason I can find bales of organic alfalfa for 12-15 bucks.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

RanchoDeluxe

After the USDA ruling last spring on Montanto's application on their Alfalfa it's only going to get worse over the next couple of years.

Ask about 'non-sprayed' and see if you don't have more success in sourcing.

 

[Scrappy4]

It would depend on the area's climate, the fertility of the soil and so on. But I have never tried growing it before and the field in question is in a zone 4 area with gravel like soil so I won't expect much. Sorry I can't help more than that....scrappy

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Scrap- Zone 4 here as well man. Gravelly old horse pasture that hasn't been sprayed for at least 3 yrs if at all. I guess we will have to compare notes later on.

Coot- Fuck em I'll grow my own. I wonder where I get this attitude from??!!

 

[Oregonism]

Scrap- Zone 4 here as well man. Gravelly old horse pasture that hasn't been sprayed for at least 3 yrs if at all. I guess we will have to compare notes later on.

Coot- Fuck em I'll grow my own. I wonder where I get this attitude from??!!

Medicago sativa is grown all the way from Bend to Burns in the Central Oregon High Desert, USDA zones span from maybe 5, 4 and 3 in places[so it a cold, windy desert mountain climate]. If it will grow there, it will grow just about damn near anywhere.

 

[W89]

Hey been on another comfrey hunt....this is what Ive been doing with it....(Pictures are from different batches)

This:

To This:

To This: