Should I mow this?

[cornfedkiller]

Looking for some opinions.. I have a 1 acre plot of clover that was just planted this spring. The clover was doing great earlier in the year, coming in very thick and full, and got to be about 8" tall. Then it stopped raining and we haven't had hardly any all summer, so needless to say, my clover is not doing so well now. I'm hoping it's still alive enough that if we start getting some rain, it will start growing back. Anyways, as of right now, it's mostly a weed plot, so I'm curious if I should just leave it alone and just let it do its thing and go mow the weeds later if/when the clover starts growing back, or if it would be beneficial to mow it now and remove the weed competition?

Will I hurt anything if I mow it now?

 

[bueller]

I would think if you could stop those weeds from making seeds by mowing it would be a good move going forward.

 

[Semisane]

I agree with bueller. Mow it now, or even hit it with some Gly (which is what I would do). The Gly won't likely harm the dormant clover. Don't let those weeds go to seed.

 

[j-bird]

Mowing to keep weeds from producing seed would be best in my opinion. Not sure I would hit it with gly. Your clover may not be established enough (since being planted this spring) and it's stressed as it is. It should bounce back with some cooler temps and some rain.

 

[H20fwler]

If what you are wanting is a strictly a clover plot then mow it and over seed with more clover and seed again in early spring, the clover looks thin in the pic.
I don't get hung up on weeds in my plots to much, I'm always adding "other" wildlife foods to them anyway and deer/bunnies/turkeys/birds eat a lot of varieties of weeds too.

 

[Catscratch]

My clover/chicory plot grew waist high this spring, then turned brown and dried down to nothing except weeds as the summer heated up. I mowed it a couple of weeks ago (very short), then we got some cooler weather with a couple of rains. It has rebounded very well and looks like it never had a weed in it. I don't think mowing it during summer dormancy did it any harm at all.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Thanks for all the replies. I took the mower out there this afternoon and mowed off the weeds. The vast majority of the weeds were ragweed starting to go to seed, so a good thing to get that mowed off...I just wasnt sure if I would hurt the clover, but figured it wouldn't since the mower was set high enough to not even touch any of it.

I agree with j-bird..I don't think hitting it with gly would be a safe bet right now since the clover is still pretty "fresh".

This fall/next spring I will probably have to overseed some of the thin spots that don't recover, but I'm hoping most of it makes it. I have another clover plot that was planted last fall and it headed out early this summer and then went dormant, but this clover plot doesn't look like that one right now, so I'm not sure if its actually dormant, or just dead...time will tell I guess.

Bring on the rain!

 

[yoderjac]

Just looking at the field and knowing it was spring planted, I'm guessing you will always spend more time and money trying to maintain this as a clover field than starting over and planting in the fall. If it were me, I'd probably spray with 24d and gly to get as much kill as possible. I'd then surface broadcast WR and clover this fall.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cornfedkiller]

Just looking at the field and knowing it was spring planted, I'm guessing you will always spend more time and money trying to maintain this as a clover field than starting over and planting in the fall. If it were me, I'd probably spray with 24d and gly to get as much kill as possible. I'd then surface broadcast WR and clover this fall.

Thanks,

Jack

I know fall planted clover is better because of the weed competition, but I assumed if I planted it in the spring, I would only fight the weeds and stuff this first year, and then next spring my clover would be about the same as any second year clover. Am I wrong?

Why will I end up spending less time and money if I completely start over this fall?

 

[yoderjac]

Bad assumption, at least in my area with my soils. If I follow best practices for establishing clover by fall planting with a winter rye cover crop after a good burn down and followed by timely mowing the first spring to release the clover, I'll get a great plot with no herbicides. Weeds will begin creeping in slowly in the next year but it takes quite a while before the percentage of weeds is great enough that I need to rejuvenate or rotate. If I try to establish clover in the spring, weeds will take hold. Once they take hold, my warm season weeds are hard to get rid of. Even if I seemingly clean the field with herbicides, those weeds come back much faster. I spend more money and time trying to deal with them.

I want to add one more thing. When I first started, I spent a lot of time and effort trying to keep clean clover fields. I've learned over time that while they look great, they really don't benefit my deer more than a weedy field (given my objectives and techniques). In fact deer eat many of what most consider weeds and they can be as or more nutritious than the clover. The weeds also help shade the clover in the summer. Again, the practices that work very well in my area, may not be the best fit for you. However, I've found that when I establish a very clean field to start using best practices and then after the first year of establishment, ignore weeds and simply mow to release the clover once in the fall just as nights are turning cooler favoring the clover and fall rains are beginning to start, the clover bounces back very strong and provides a great fall plot even when it looks like crap in the summer. Eventually when the field gets weedy enough, I'll hit it with a quart of gly in late summer and drill radish through the clover. (Just posted a picture of that on another thread). This will give me a few more years out of the field but eventually clover needs to be rotated.

Keep in mind that in a field of waist high weeds, deer are often using the clover growing underneath. Also, I'm far enough south (zone 7a) that summer is more of a stress period than fall and I plant about 7 acres of soybeans to cover that summer stress period.

The reason I said "I'm guessing you'll spend more..." is that conditions could be different in your area. Summer weeds may not be as big of an issue as they are here. You field could have more clover in it than it appears from the picture. You can mow and see what happens this fall as you seem to have done. I'm just saying that based on my experience and your picture and description, I'd start over if it were me. This is a judgment call, not what is best in all cases.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cornfedkiller]

Thanks Jack- few more questions.

Can you explain why starting over completely is going to be better than leaving the existing clover there (where I took the picture from is one of the worst spots in the plot) to get out ahead of the weeds next spring, and then just filling in the weak spots with more seeding? I'm not understanding why taking advantage of the "head start" I have with clover already there wouldn't be a good idea? Only because killing everything off is going to kill the weeds too and put everything back at square 1?



And I planted it in March, so isn't that about the same as frost seeding - which is fairly recommended? The clover looked great this spring until it got hot and dry. This was the clover in early June.



I'm not trying to argue with you or anything, just trying to learn. Thanks again!

 

[yoderjac]

You may not be better off starting over. It is a judgment call and the picture in the above post looks much better than the one in the original post. Again, it really depends on your locality and soils. Based on your pictures in the previous post, I tend to agree that if you are weed tolerant (I've learned to be), you may be better working with what you have.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cornfedkiller]

Thank you again Jack. If I keep mowing it high (if it ever starts raining again here as well as next year) and clipping the weeds down to keep them from going to seed, won't the clover eventually choke them out and it should be fairly weed free (in theory)?

 

[SmallChunk]

I see no reason to start over. Once you get some cooler temps and rain, your clover will flourish. Silly to start over in my opinion!

 

[yoderjac]

Thank you again Jack. If I keep mowing it high (if it ever starts raining again here as well as next year) and clipping the weeds down to keep them from going to seed, won't the clover eventually choke them out and it should be fairly weed free (in theory)?

No, it seems to work the other way. Let's say you start with a clean field of clover with zero weeds. That clover fixes N and as the clover goes through the life/death cycle, some of that N is released. This available N makes fields more and more attractive to N seeking plants, especially grasses. All plants have cycles and when conditions are not favorable for clover (summer) weeds with thrive if they are more adapted to hose conditions. Eventually weeds will dominate the field. The persistence of clover depends on the type. Ladino is good for about 5 years here and then I can usually get a couple more years by rejuvenating it. Durana gives me 8 years or so before I need to rejuvenate. Eventually though, one has to rotate. Nature doesn't support monocultures well. We need to apply effort to sustain them and can only do so for so long.

I can have weeds waist high in the summer where you can't even see clover in the field. Come fall when the season favors the clover, I mow and the clover is lush and takes over the field. That doesn't change much in the long run. Those weeds are just waiting for conditions to favor them. Each year things get worse until I rejuvenate which gives me a few more years, but eventually weeds win and I need to rotate into an N seeking crop for a season or two.

Given those last pictures, you will likely see your clover bounce back strong when conditions change.

Thanks,

Jack