Clover For Wet Lands
Categories:
Grains and Forage Crops
What kind of alfalfa will do best on sub-irrigated land which is very
wet? I have sown it in alfalfa and it grows finely for two or three
years, but then the roots rot and die.
It is impossible to make any kind of alfalfa grow well on very wet land,
that is, where the water comes too near the surface. Alfalfa has a
deep-running tap root which is very subject to standing water. You can
get very good results from the Eastern red clover on such land, because
the red clover has a fibrous root which is content to live in a shallow
layer of soil above water. But red clover will not stand drought as well
as alfalfa, because it is shallower rooting. It is necessary, therefore,
that water should be permanently near the surface or surface irrigation
be frequently applied, in order to secure satisfactory growth of red
clover in the drier sections of California. It is also necessary that
neither land nor water carry alkali.