If it is the pellets they take longer to break down and I would go for it

They work better if you can work them in to the ground.

I bought a huge bag of the meal form and it breaks down more quickly.

Thanks! Advantage of doing it right now, I can get the home from college kid to work it into the ground as well!

Yes, the meal breaks down rather rapidly for an organic product. As a matter of fact, it is cautioned that you avoid any direct contact with plant roots with the alfalfa meal (or pellets) as it can break down rapidly enough to generate sufficient decompositional heat to burn tender roots. A few weeks at most....not months!

Even in your climate (not all that different from mine), you would want to apply closer to the primary growing season rather than in midwinter for the fert to work most efficiently. I would suggest waiting until at least mid to late February lest it generate a lot of new growth that could be too vulnerable to colder temps.

I see, it is a fine meal that i have, not pellets. I was weighing the pros and cons of using the rain to water it in well over being a bit too early. We haven't really had a very cold winter yet.

If you have the meal it will break down rapidly. The timing with your college helper is perfect but probably too early.

Please send said college student to my house. How are they with weeds?

Kristine, rather good actually! Not so good inside the house, but excellent for long, mundane, outdoor chores :D

Thanks, everyone! I'll wait a bit and hope for continued rain!

KC

Mulch after applying! Interesting! I do have a lot of mulch and usually have to rake it around to make sure my organic fertilizers get below the mulch layer. That was part of the motivation in doing it before the rain forecast! Maybe we will be lucky and have more weeks of rain!!