3rd spring for my Balansa Fixation Clover

[Tap]

I fall seeded Balansa 3 years ago. It came in great the following spring and fully developed into a great plot with great tonnage.
Balansa is an annual but it's advertised to be a prolific re-seeder to create a perpetual stand because the seed is so hard, it lasts for years in the soil. That 1st summer, it had millions of flowers and bees. I was anxious to see how well it re-seeded last spring but I was disappointed at the results.
Fast forward to this spring and the stuff has bounced back well. That"s from a fall 2015 seeding.
I'm a little puzzled that it didn't re-establish well last year.
I was thinking that I might give up on Balansa, but I'm having 2nd thoughts on that.
Right now, I'm liking the stuff. Maybe I'll get some pics tomorrow.

 

[SwampCat]

How tall does the balansa get. I have a plot with some arrowleaf that came in on its own after I cleared the area, that I really like. It has been comming back every year for six years now. Some years, it is really woolly and thick - some years - not as much. This is one of those years. We went two months last fall without a drop of rain and I feel like that might have set it back. I have been interested in trying some balansa

 

[Tap]

How tall does the balansa get. I have a plot with some arrowleaf that came in on its own after I cleared the area, that I really like. It has been comming back every year for six years now. Some years, it is really woolly and thick - some years - not as much. This is one of those years. We went two months last fall without a drop of rain and I feel like that might have set it back. I have been interested in trying some balansa

That 1st summer it was crotch high. Would have been taller if it had support.

Another interesting trait is that it did okay with wet feet. It wasn't low, swamp land, but it was a pretty damp slope.

I also like that the stems had very little lignin content. Almost the entire plant has high digestibility.

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[Tap]

Here's a few pics.
In some areas, it's not 100%coverage, but overall, I'd say it's more than 50% and that's from the plants naturally re-seeding. I've only spread Balansa that fall of 2015.

The rye I did a throw and no mow last fall. This Balansa is slightly over knee height.

Balansa stems are hollow and succulent all the way down to the ground. It's highly digestible.

Compare to the stem of medium red clover. It's a bit more coarse than Balansa.

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[mglenn005]

Our fixation clover was a huge success at feeding the deer. This is about 3/4 acre field that it did well in. We plan to keep it in our fall plantings.


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[Tap]

Our fixation clover was a huge success at feeding the deer. This is about 3/4 acre field that it did well in. We plan to keep it in our fall plantings.

How well did it naturally re-seed? Did you allow seeds to fully develop? I think they say to wait 40 days or so after mature flowering before mowing to allow the seeds to proliferate.

 

[mglenn005]

Our fixation clover was a huge success at feeding the deer. This is about 3/4 acre field that it did well in. We plan to keep it in our fall plantings.

How well did it naturally re-seed? Did you allow seeds to fully develop? I think they say to wait 40 days or so after mature flowering before mowing to allow the seeds to proliferate.

That was naturally grazed by the deer herd. Time will tell next spring if it reseeded.


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