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Questions for Raven

NWBuck

NWBuck

PMA Member
Raven,

Awhile back you made a very informational post regarding food plots. Specifically, you talked about frost seeding ladino clover. We decided to give it a try on a few acres, so I now have a couple of questions:

1) The dealer I bought the seed from mentioned a rate of about 2-3 lbs./acre because there are about 80,000 seeds per pound in this stuff. Applying the doubling + principle, I'm thinking about 6-8 lbs. per acre. Is this what you'd recommend? With a hand seeder only, how do you accurately control this rate?

2) We should've done this a month ago but didn't. With most or all of the frost gone, is now (or say next weekend) too late to frost seed and leave the seed uncovered, or should we plan to pull a light drag over it?

Your experiences, or anyone elses' as well, would be appreciated. Thanks.

NWBuck
 
Hello NW Buck!

Actually ladino clover has 860,00 seeds per pound!!! That's a whole lot of seed, no doubt about it. The seeds are very tiny.

That said, though, I always plant AT LEAST twice what is recommend when broadcast, frost seeding clover.

Clover seed is relatively cheap and it self-thins so I like to put it on heavy. The thicker and faster you get a stand going the better it is able to compete with weed intrusion. We are getting late in the season for the best frost seeding so I would spread seed at a heavy rate of 10-15 pounds per acre, believe it or not. That's what I would do. At a cost of $3.50-$4.00 per pound a few extra pounds per acre won't break the bank on small plots and it only helps.

You could drag the seed very lightly. But, remember, the worst thing to do is to cover clover seed with much dirt or debris of any sort. It won't germinate if it gets much deeper than 1/4 inch down. If possible, I would broadcast right before a likely rain. This will help to ensure seed/soil contact and start rapid germination. Also, drive over the newly seeded area or use a roller to maximize seed/soil contact if you can. I wouldn't drag it if it were me.

As far as spreading the seed, one can use an inexpensive grass seeder from the farm supply stores. The ones that hold a couple of pounds or so work fine and cost less than $10. You can also use an over-the-shoulder bag-type cyclone crank seeder. These hold lots of seed and work better for plots of an acre or more. (Just make sure to use the "clover" setting on your seeder, of course).

One can simply weigh the seed at home on a scale of some sort and divide into "1 acre" packages. Then you know how much to use on each acre when in the field. I would use stick-in-the-ground mini flags to mark your passes, since it can be hard to see the clover on the ground.

You should still be able to get in a good clover planting by simply broadcasting on top of the ground. Hopefully, you are working with dead sod. If that's the case you should be fine. Even on live sod, the clover is going to grow but the weeds/grasses are starting to grow and I would get the clover on the ground right now if you are dealing with live sod. If the clover gets a jump on the grasses you might be able control the grasses with selective herbicides latter in the season. But that is a battle and can get expensive. If you wait to plant on live sod much longer it will be an uphill battle because things are growing and they will compete with your clover seed.

So if you are working with live sod and still want a clover planting in this spring. your best bet might really be to spray with Roundup sometime in late april. Wait 10 days, then till and disk or plow and disk. Then, you'd can broadcast seed and drag very, very lightly before a rain for best results.

Hope some of this answers your question. Kind of typing fast because I am on my way out the door.......good luck!!!!!!!!!

Raven
 
Raven,

Sorry for the delay...left for the weekend to get that first batch of Missouri River walleyes for the season.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. We are seeding this into corn stalks from last year. There is a little trash on top, but not too bad. I think we'll avoid the dragging and just drive over it with the 4 wheeler. Most of the plot is long and narrow, so it should be fairly easy to do. Thanks again!

NWBuck
 
I am having a hard time finding the seed in SE Iowa - I can't seem to find seed/feed mills or coops in the yellow pages so I am having a hard time getting hooked up with seed locally. Any ideas on where to find some in SE Iowa or even the Quad Cities? Or is it best to order seed on line at places like Coopers where the prices aren't bad, but you have to pay a bunch for shipping.
 
aimfirst,

I bought mine at a local coop. They didn't have any ladino clover on hand, as they have little demand for it. However, they had a network of dealers that found it for me rather quickly and had it here within just a few days. I would guess that the agronomist at any small town coop would be able to help. I paid just short of $3.50 per pound, so like Raven said, this is relatively cheap seed. I bought 30 pounds and plan to seed about 3 acres.

NWBuck
 
I bought some at Consumer COOP in IC if that isn't too far to drive. They sold me a partial bag but said they had plenty of stock at that time ~2 months ago. 319.337.4171
 
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