Here is a first year clover plot planted on a clean soil bed last fall. I touched it up via frost seed this March. I tried something a little different to see results. Initial clover was typical ladino purchased from local co-op. For the touched up/frost seeded areas I used Whitetail Institute Imperial Clover (don't judge the buck-on-a-bag, I got it for ~75% off
). I just made the first cut this week.
1. Planted 40% of the plot via broadcast and cultipack in winter rye and ladino. This part of the stand the clover was about 4" taller on average than the wheat cover and about 6" taller than the straight frost seeding. It also wasn't as thick of a stand. I failed to get a good pic of the rye before cutting.
2. Planted 40% of the plot via broadcast and cultipack in winter wheat and ladino. This part of the stand the clover seem to do about the best, but was very thick which may present issues in the future.
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3. Planted 20% via broadcast frost seed. This stand was pretty impressive as far as grass and weed control, I may have over seeded it too much because it is also very "carpet thick"
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All in all I'm pleased with all three methods, most probably due to the wet spring. We will see how things evolve after regrowth, but right now I think the fall planted wheat cover crop will turn out best.
Here is one more pic to show the cutting and growth of the frost seeded section, it may not look like it but the cut side is about 5". I probably waited too long for the first cut.
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