If your alfalfa is looking a little thin, you may be tempted to add alfalfa to thicken the stand. Before you do, consider:

Some years rain plays havoc with hay quality. When dark clouds are on the horizon some go ahead and bale the tough hay and hope it doesn’t spoil or get hot and burn. Others wait out the storm and cross their fingers that the rains will hit their row crop fields but miss their hay fields.

Alfalfa often may be seeded with a companion crop like oats to control weeds and erosion and provide a crop of grain or hay.  Clear seeding alfalfa alone, without a companion crop, also works well.  A preplant herbicide like trifluralin, Balan or Eptam often is sprayed and incorporated first to control weeds in a clear seeding, but a herbicide isn't always necessary.  So, which p