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Late Fall (Dormant) Plantings
Successful plantings have been made by seeding in late fall just before freeze-up in fields where corn, sudangrass or sorghum has been cut for silage. Two rows cut high, 24 to 30 inches, and left every 30 to 40 feet protect against soil drifting and holds snow on the field. Planting in clean small-grain stubble also provides a good seedbed.
Dormant seedings work better with grasses than legumes. Most grasses germinate slower than legumes so there is less risk of fall germination with grasses. Alfalfa and sweetclover stands from weekly seedings from mid-August to the first week of November in 1994 showed complete stand failures after early September seedings, including the November seeding that was considered a dormant seeding. Results from western North Dakota on sandy soils have shown very excellent results with dormant seedings. The reason for different results is unclear, but it might be wise not to use dormant seedings for pure alfalfa. Dormant seeding of grasses and possibly grass-alfalfa mixtures would be recommended.
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