Hi everyone! I have been using what I thought was a natural Alfalfa Pellet in my vegetable garden (actually, everywhere)!

I didn't read the label correctly (finely bought glasses if truth be told)

Anyway, I bought "Natural Suncured Alfalfa Pellets 15%" from a company called CHS Nutrition.

Well I finally saw on the label that it says "For use in manufacturing animal feed only". Is this bad? I hope not! I have an absolutely bountiful garden this year and would hate to have to stop eating it!!!!!! HELP!
Thanks for any help!

Bump

I figure it just means not for human consumption. Can't see a problem adding it to the soil. What is your concern? I might be missing something.

Just paranoid I guess because of everything we hear about what they put in/on our food. I didn't want to be adding insecticides or God only knows what else to my soil.

I am sooooooooooooo happy how wonderful my garden is this year, I was hoping the pellets where alright to use (that particular brand that is).

Veggiecat: What are the benefits of using the alfalfa pellets?

Sunny Day, Alfalfa pellets are great for nitrogen without having to use manures and reducing the risk of ecoli and other illnesses. They also provide compost material for the garden. I am so amazed at how well my garden has performed this summer! Alfalfa also has something in it that roses LOVE (can't remember what though LOL). Also, a 50 lb. bag was only $8.00 and covers quite a large area.

Any material that you purchase is an added expense to gardening that may not be necessary. If you are where there are lots of deciduous trees, and you add the leaves that fall from them every year to your garden, along with your compost, there should be no reason (after a few years) to have to buy anything to add to your soil.

Hi Kimm1, well unfortunately we have a 50x100 lot and only 3 fir trees on it (which makes our soil VERY acidic). So we are forced to buy soil amendments.

We don't have a great place for a big compost pile, so our pile is small. We also mulch our lawn, so we don't have lawn clippings either.

I don't mind the expense of the Alfalfa pellets and calcium, as it isn't all that much. We save in many other ways (water barrels, saving seeds etc).

I really do need to figure out a better place for our compost pile and make it bigger due to the fact that our soil needs more compost to hold water!!!!!

My trees also leach out all the lime from the soil, so our grass will suffer if we don't lime it.

I would offer to rake my neighbors yards for the leaves, but most of them have VERY undesirable trees, like Cottonwood, Black Locus and another tree that has a horrible scent and is prolific, if you get the seeds in your yard.

What are the best trees for leaf compost? We are planning on planting another tree in the back yard.

Sorry, ramble ramble!!!!! LOL

Alfalfa pellets are 2-2-2 and the best to use. they have the same stuff as in the expensive Super Thrive. Plants really go for Alfalfa pellets. I have used them for years. They also have lots of trace elements.

A low cost alternative to expensive fish fertilizer. They are so low cost that you can not go wrong. I throw a handfull into the rainwater barrel to make a tea for the plants. I use it on plants that are not doing well. it really turns them healthy quick. I use it mostly as a tea with rainwater.

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Well I finally saw on the label that it says "For use in manufacturing animal feed only". Is this bad?

No this is not bad. It more than likely means that it's a base ingredient they use in making a more complete feed mix. My hubby works for CHS, so I'll ask him to check it out if he can (he's not in the feed dept.). I used CHS feeds for my cattle for years, and they are known for quality feed, so I would not hesitate to use it in the garden. In fact, I had decided just yesterday that this is what I'll be digging into my super nasty clay soil this fall.

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Alfalfa also has something in it that roses LOVE (can't remember what though LOL).

Alfalfa is high in nitrogen. It's roots go very deep and so it pulls up all sorts of micro-nutrients as well.

Avacado leaves are great for compost.
The fruit is also delicious and kind of expensive at the markets.

The trees do not, and will not, affect the soils pH, they grow there because of the soils pH possibly but neither the trees nor the needles wil lsignificantly affect soil pH.
I know many people that had a 3 x 3 compost bin 3 feet high because they "had too small a lot for a bigger one" and found that a 4 x 4 x 4 compost bin did not take much more space and produce significantly more compost.
Lime, added to soil, provides Calcium which helps balance the soils Magnesium and between the two balance the free hydrogen ions that cause a soils pH to be where its at. The only really good way to determine what you are doing when applying lime is with a good, reliable soil test that tells you how much and which lime you should be adding. Applying calcitic (high calcium) lime to a soil that needs a dolomitic (high magnesium) lime will do nothing for the soil and not applying enough will do little to help. It should not be necessary to add lime to soil every year, if the right lime in the right quantity is added at the right time.
There is nothing wrong with Cottonwood, Black Locust, or that "stinky (most likely a Ginko) tree. Compost them and improve the sand you have for much less cost.

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There is nothing wrong with Cottonwood, Black Locust, or that "stinky (most likely a Ginko) tree. Compost them and improve the sand you have for much less cost.

I agree with Kimm about that. In the fall I have access to the leaves from one ash tree which don't go far. The only other leaves I can get my hands on are cottonwood and if they are shredded first, they're great. If not shredded, they take a little longer to break down than other leaves, but since that's all I can get, I welcome them, shredded or not!

I mix up my own hi-test finished screened compost. At the finish I add some perlite and alfalfa pellets to mimic soiless mix. I get a second heating from the pellets. The mix sits for a year to cure before going into cells.

Thank you Kimm1 for all the GREAT info. I re-read my post, and meant to say having 3 fir trees means I have very acidic soil, my trees are very healthy, it must be acidic. I have a love hate relationship with Black Locus, I LOVE the scent of the flowers, but HATE the thorns (my boyfriend got a really bad infection in his knee from a poke from a thorn).

I will try the compost pile again (we have never really used it for anything)!!! Dorks!

I still love the alfalfa pellets though!