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Clover

June 16th, 2013

Mid June...clovers are full bloom over much of the country



So...is it necessary to clip it?? No...not imperative by any means but clipping (not mowing close) can help keep any weeds from going to seed and keep clovers fixing nitrogen



White clover is one our most important habitat tools because it is such a low maintenance food source and remains palatable and attractive even if left untouched and it can withstand heavy grazing without being wiped or requiring expensive fencing.

Red clover however get's taller and stemmy and can become slightly less attractive if not kept clipped occasionally and when planted with rye as a summer food source and source of nitrogen for then ensuing crop of brassicas, clipping the flowers off will force it to keep blooming and in turn fix more nitrogen.



Clovers are versatile, dependable and add diversity our habitat programs so we include some in every plot or field but they are also great stand alone food sources, easily established with little or no equipment and in hard to access places... :way:
 
Clover Rye question.

With all the talk of planting clover with rye, I'm getting confused. I'm planning on putting in a new (clear ground now - bare dirt) clover plot. It sounds like everyone is recommending MIXING in winter rye, is that correct? If so at what rate would I mix the 2 per acre (how many pounds per acre)?
 
In other words... if you had 2 separate plots that you were going to plant, would you keep the rye and the clover separated, or would you plant both to a rye / clover mix?

And is it correct that the best time to plant that would be around the end of August?

Thanks!

Steve
 
Yep- mix the 2 together. It offers more food for deer, rye acts as a cover crop, the 2 work excellent together, rye builds soil, etc. Planting the end of august will be ideal timing for Rye, possibly a touch on the later side for clover but you're good - the goal - having deer hammer the plot, with peas, radish & oats in that same mix (what Dbltree is suggesting) will bring them in big time. then, next spring, your clovers will be one of the 1st things to pop up, mowing down rye later or killing it - you'll be left with an established clover plot that will attract deer, dominate weed competition and fix N. Mix it all - read thru Dbltree's suggestions on qty's. I do around 50 lbs rye, 40 oats, 40 peas, 10 total on clover (red & white) and about 4 pounds radish. I'm pry a little overboard but it works great but I'd follow Dbltree's suggestions.
 
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Paul, can berseem clover be used as a cover crop for white clovers when planted in the late summer for those who don't want to use rye or oats? If so, at what lbs per acre would you you seed the berseem as a cover crop? Thanks
 
Little advice needed here. I have a plot that I spring seeded oats, alsike and ladino. A couple of weeks ago I clipped the oats off high as to not have it windrow too much and smother out the clover below it. That worked fine but now I have a high amount of grass coming (majority of it is foxtail i believe).

There is a good amount of clover in the plot but the grass pressure is quite high. I would like to avoid spraying if possible but can. I was just hoping I could get this around the corner by mowing it a few times a little lower?
 
jlarson007 said:
Little advice needed here. I have a plot that I spring seeded oats, alsike and ladino. A couple of weeks ago I clipped the oats off high as to not have it windrow too much and smother out the clover below it. That worked fine but now I have a high amount of grass coming (majority of it is foxtail i believe).

There is a good amount of clover in the plot but the grass pressure is quite high. I would like to avoid spraying if possible but can. I was just hoping I could get this around the corner by mowing it a few times a little lower?
Click to expand...

Yep...just keep clipping as needed

Paul, can berseem clover be used as a cover crop for white clovers when planted in the late summer for those who don't want to use rye or oats? If so, at what lbs per acre would you you seed the berseem as a cover crop? Thanks
Click to expand...

Berseem is a great starter clover but best used in spring, it will freeze and die quickly in the fall. Just clear seed the white clover in early September and weeds won't be a problem
 
 
Clover Strips

Clover may not be as sexy as other crops but over most of the midwest and northern states, it's a dependable workhorse that works longer, harder and more cost effectively then any other crop. Because of the incredible amount of high quality forage it can produce in a very small space however, we don't need to plant the back forty to it!

We use exterior, plot perimeters and small, odd corners connected to the plot to plant white clover, insuring that from April to December when deer step out of the timber...they have a ready food source!

The following is a photo montage from a trail set on a field edge (next to a runway funneled by edge feathering I might add) and though the date/time wasn't set you can follow along from when it was rye...



Jess burning the midnight oil mowing the rye and clover



leaving the clover behind



We use red clover in the rye mix but use a white/red mix along the outside



Once the rye straw is shredded, the clover grows quickly



thanks in part to the sponge like root systems that hold soil moisture into the hot dry summer



Leave a strip along the outside wide enough for your equipment to mow the clover





The clover remains attractive even when the adjacent ground is...not



and every day...deer come out the same runway



and 24-7, 365 days a year



they are not disappointed



Heavy rain caused a flush of foxtail and weeds that have since been mowed but outside of looks, the sweet, lush clover is unaffected and keeps doing it's intended job



There are dozens and dozens of great clover varieties, each with good attributes but we have learned to depend on a few drought and graze resistant varieties that work well in our area. Do your own due diligence and look over university trials for varieties that will do well in your area, your county extension agent can often help with information.

Always check locally to avoid shipping and handling costs but if there are none in your area, here's a source that offers seed by the pound

Clover Seed source

Iowa-Missouri Hybrids carries all the seeds, bagged fertilizer and lime we use so for those in the SE Iowa area give Aaron and Joe a call 319-293-3114


Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6-8#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your help Paul. It's taken a while but I'm getting the hang of this. Starting last year, about this time , I broadcast ladino and red over and ghr on this strip.



By October there were some signs of a salad bar.




The pic dated 8-13-12 is actually 8-29-13

http://s171.photobucket.com/user/mshm99/media/clover 2013/clover 2013/P1090070_cr_cr.jpg.html
rest of the pics are self explanatory. There is not much around me so we got the deer.


















We have not had any rain since early July, and had some 100 degree days. As Paul has said the red clover has held up well.
 
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My clover plots are looking pretty deathly ill, and they were planted on top of winter rye. Any chances of them rebounding with a good rain?

I made the mistake of just planting jumbo ladino, probably should've planted some alice which is more drought resistant. We drilled in some rye last weekend so hopefully that takes off.
 
SEIowaDeerslayer said:
My clover plots are looking pretty deathly ill, and they were planted on top of winter rye. Any chances of them rebounding with a good rain?

I made the mistake of just planting jumbo ladino, probably should've planted some alice which is more drought resistant. We drilled in some rye last weekend so hopefully that takes off.
Click to expand...

The dry hot weather is hard on clover but it should green up once it rains and cools off
 
September 23rd, 2013



This pic was meant to show off a brassica stand we planted that did not receive a drop of rain until recently, planted in last years rye it thrived with no rain! More important is the clover perimeter planted last fall with rye and it has provided a food source when the brassicas were tiny.



Tim is just establishing his KopuII clover perimeters with rye this fall



and this strip dividing his crop rotations



They will follow those strips right to a stand or blind, so a little planning can pay off!

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6-8#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28
Click to expand...
 
I could not even imagine not having clover as a food source on our farm, Picking up 3 bag's of imperial whitetail tomorrow, we have some new plots from last year that are killer right now, but had a few plots on the farm that have been in for the last 7 years that we riped up this past weekend to get them replanted,We plant a smorgesboard for the herd every year, but Our clover plots are still favorited all year long verse's any other plot
 
Update on one of my strips. First pic , mowed on 8/29/13



How the strip looked on 10/6/13. The white clovers came back strong.





Thanks Paul.

Mike
 
Paul, Just a couple pics of of a new clover plot I put in this spring with my cereal grain and brassica plot in the back ground.

First pic is a pic of the out of the way clover plot I put in this year, it was just golden rod and grass before. I also planted some oaks in this area. I put up a trial cam on the crabapple tree in the middle of this pic.
Second pic is from the trial cam of a small buck heading to the cereal grain plot, the does in the back ground are eating in the cereal grain plot. My brassicas are just beyond the cereal grains.
Third pic is more does in and heading to the cereal grain plot, this is the norm now. I put the trial cam out last Sunday and got over 600 pics of them using this new clover and the cereal plot in 5 days.

Scott
Click to expand...

Perfect combination of year around crop sources, oaks and fruit trees...well done!







Tim sent some pics back in September of his new clover strips planted with winter rye



Clovers emerging



New clover seedlings do need rain so in our area, the dry fall may lead to poor seedings but time will tell...;)
 
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