Turning existing plots into clover plots.

For starters I will state that I am very new to food plots. This year I planted a few brassica plots on my new farm. One was eaten down to the dirt and the other was planted a little to thin but has a lot of bulbs that the deer aren't touching. In both plots I over seeded with winter rye, winter wheat, oats and winter peas. This upcoming year I want to change these plots to clover and leave them as clover plots as they are a bit small to do anything else in. My question is aside from a soil test what are the recommended steps to turn these plots into successful clover plots. Will just frost seeding work and then mow the grain as it starts to grow? Thank you for the help.

 

I am pretty sure that will have success in that scenario by just frost seeding and then mowing off any rye that is coming on in say May or so. Worst case...they rye grows and then dies off in July, no big deal.

 

Sounds good maybe hit with some low nitrogen fertilizer in the spring also

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Frost seed for sure. I would let the rye go until the seed heads get to the dough stage, then mow. This will suppress weed growth and help hold moisture. As stated previously, add some p&k as Soon as you can. Soil test . Good luck. Also I wouldn't over seed peas, think
They need a little depth. Good luck

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Thanks for the advice, sounds like a relatively easy transition into this new plan.

 

Frost seed, cleth for grasses and brush hog for broadleafs in summer


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Thanks for the info, is it possible to broadcast winter rye into the clover every september? I realize it might have a hard time growing with the clover creating a canopy but I’d like to try and offer more food throughout the winter. Let me know what you guys think, thanks.

 

I guess my question would be how big are these plots? Could you do a dltree rotation with clover around the outside to give you all you want in one area? I would imagine that you could throw some rye into the clover and possibly get some to germ and get a little food but i would bet most would just lay and then possibly germinate the next spring then you would just have to kill it the following year...i would think that a clover perimeter with some fall food in the middle would get you exactly what your after

 

Their small micro plots and the deer density is higher than I had originally thought that’s why clover is the only thing I think can handle the browse pressure. I recovered all my failed brassica plots this past fall with winter rye and the deer and still hammering them so I was hoping to provide them with a bit more diversity. What’s it take to kill winter rye if it ends up germinating in spring time? Would a quick mow take care of it or would it have to be sprayed?

 

cleth is what youll need to kill it. mowing will knock it back but what i found this spring is that it grows faster than the clover so mowing it doesnt get you the results you will want

 

So I can get two birds stoned at once by spraying cleth every spring after the left over winter rye germinates. One it’ll kill off the winter rye and two take care of grasses that are invading.

 

I don't know where you are located but I'll share my experience here way up north. I thought the frosty berseem would be the cat's meow for a interim crop between rye and brassicas. I tried frost seeding it for 2 years right next to medium red clover for a test. Frosty berseem was almost a complete bust for me, both into winter rye and also on brassicas. I have never had anything but excellent results with medium red clover frost seeding over many years. All the white clovers are not recommended for frost seeding, but some years may work under the right conditions. Pretty sure a late cold snap after a good early warm spell is death to any germinating clover but red. Like I said, I'm way up in Clayton county so your results may be different if you're further south.