Clover - Best variety and how to plant

Albuds

Yearling... With promise
I am in Zone 8a middle Georgia. Food plots currently overgrown with remnants of last falls plantings, grass and weeds, Will bush hog early September, herbicide mid to late that month and plant end of month with wheat, oats and cereal rye and small amount of crimson clover and winter peas (less than 2% of these last two in mix) using no till drill.
What is the best clover to add to this? Thinking of more Crimson or possibly durana?

Also should I use small seed box and drill clover or broadcast. Would expect better overall coverage if broadcast and maybe better germination. Concerned small box will plant clover too deep and coverage limited to planter spacing.

If broadcast simply using hand spreader into standing thatch will it need to be rolled after spreading?

Thanks
 
I am in Zone 8a middle Georgia. Food plots currently overgrown with remnants of last falls plantings, grass and weeds, Will bush hog early September, herbicide mid to late that month and plant end of month with wheat, oats and cereal rye and small amount of crimson clover and winter peas (less than 2% of these last two in mix) using no till drill.
What is the best clover to add to this? Thinking of more Crimson or possibly durana?

Also should I use small seed box and drill clover or broadcast. Would expect better overall coverage if broadcast and maybe better germination. Concerned small box will plant clover too deep and coverage limited to planter spacing.

If broadcast simply using hand spreader into standing thatch will it need to be rolled after spreading?

Thanks
I’ll chime in in a bit, but would recommend you start with this thread. CnC is a ninja on that stuff.

 
Durana. Crimson is an early season perennial and does not make it far into the summer. I do not have much success with throw and mow clover. I have much better success with a well prepared seed bed. The best success I have had is till, cultipack, spread seed, and cultipack again. I would combine with a nurse crop seed like wheat.
 
Durana. Crimson is an early season perennial and does not make it far into the summer. I do not have much success with throw and mow clover. I have much better success with a well prepared seed bed. The best success I have had is till, cultipack, spread seed, and cultipack again. I would combine with a nurse crop seed like wheat.
Durana was created in Georgia in your zone. Says a lot.
 
Where in Ga are you? I'm in Oglethorpe county. I've used an annual mix of Crimson and Arrowleaf for a few years, Balansa one year as well. Must have put out an annual white clover before I knew what I was doing, because I have some spots where it always grows up. The crimson and arrowleaf seem to reseed fairly well, but I always overseed in the fall. With our heat, I usually wait until the middle of September, unless Gulf storms roll some moisture in earlier. I've prepped and packed and just overseeded with broadcasting. Broadcasting seems to work fine, as well as with oats and rye, as long as the rain comes. Oats and rye WILL do better with planting, but I get some pretty good stands with broadcasting. The clover will sink into the mud. I haven't knowingly used Durana except at one spot in the woods, but I don't tend to that.
 
I am in Zone 8a middle Georgia. Food plots currently overgrown with remnants of last falls plantings, grass and weeds, Will bush hog early September, herbicide mid to late that month and plant end of month with wheat, oats and cereal rye and small amount of crimson clover and winter peas (less than 2% of these last two in mix) using no till drill.
What is the best clover to add to this? Thinking of more Crimson or possibly durana?

Also should I use small seed box and drill clover or broadcast. Would expect better overall coverage if broadcast and maybe better germination. Concerned small box will plant clover too deep and coverage limited to planter spacing.

If broadcast simply using hand spreader into standing thatch will it need to be rolled after spreading?

Thanks

It depends on what you want to do. Durana is a great clover for your area, but it is and expensive perennial. If you plan to plant next year, I'd stick with annual clover.
 
Durana should do well, but maintenance and money is required, like yoderjac says. I thinks it's easier to replant clover than maintain it, but I've never actually maintained one!
 
I have some durana that has been coming back for eight years, so the $7 per pound is a lot cheaper than wheat. If you are going to replant every year, do not go with durana - as it takes a couple of years to really establish itself
 
What if you no till drill your fall food plots every year?
In central Georgia where I am durana goes dormant most every summer due to heat and lack of rain. So even if I herbicide food plot to kill summer grass and weeds seems likely the durana stollens will regrow?
 
I'm of the opinion we try to do too much with too little space. Maybe a seasoned pro can do clover and wheat and oats over seeded with sunflowers, triticale, and cabbage - all on one acre - but it's tough to do anything but fail. I know there will be dissenting opinion but if you want clover as the primary attraction grow clover. If you want fall and/ or summer annual just focus on those..
 
What if you no till drill your fall food plots every year?
In central Georgia where I am durana goes dormant most every summer due to heat and lack of rain. So even if I herbicide food plot to kill summer grass and weeds seems likely the durana stollens will regrow?
It depends on the herbicide you use and the dosage. Gly requires a plant to be actively growing to get much absorption. Well established durana will bounce back even if top-killed.
 
It depends on the herbicide you use and the dosage. Gly requires a plant to be actively growing to get much absorption. Well established durana will bounce back even if top-killed.
In recent years hit, dry summers in middle Georgia have caused my Durana clover to essentially go dormant. No evidence of stolons above soil surface whatsoever. Year before last some of my Durana plots were sprayed with glycosphate in September by mistake. Thought I’d lost them but they came back fine.
 
What if you no till drill your fall food plots every year?
In central Georgia where I am durana goes dormant most every summer due to heat and lack of rain. So even if I herbicide food plot to kill summer grass and weeds seems likely the durana stollens will regrow?

Yea…kind of.

I am in Houston county. The Durana does go dormant but there’s always a little something there. Spraying roundup will still hurt it even if there is just a little top growth.

I love Durana. I plant it late September/early October with oats. I then spray the plot late February early March with Cleth about the time buds are forming on the trees. The Durana will take off.

As others have said, if you’re not wanting to have a perennial plot don’t use Durana. In that case, I would use either Berseem or Arrowleaf.
 
Yea…kind of.

I am in Houston county. The Durana does go dormant but there’s always a little something there. Spraying roundup will still hurt it even if there is just a little top growth.

I love Durana. I plant it late September/early October with oats. I then spray the plot late February early March with Cleth about the time buds are forming on the trees. The Durana will take off.

As others have said, if you’re not wanting to have a perennial plot don’t use Durana. In that case, I would use either Berseem or Arrowleaf.
Houston? I spent my first 2 summers after college working for a veterinarian in Perry. I definitely gets warm in the summer! And that was over 40 years ago!
 
When we converted +/- 80% of our plots to clover, we sprayed, then cut, then sprayed again, tilled when we were ready to plant. Broadcast wrens abruzzi rye, cultipacked, broadcast Durana and a medium red, then packed again. The process was started in mid August and we planted in early October in Morgan county zone 8A. Our Durana has never gone dormant that we could tell. One spraying the first year with cleth and 24db, then we cut at 10" once or twice per year there after. An alternate option would be to use a weed wipe at 10" but our weeds have not been bad except one plot. We do broadcast WAR each fall to help with weed suppression and add more medium red every third year. One of our plots had crimson planted several years prior and it comes back thick every year. I am not a fan other then the OM it is providing.

Overall, it has been much cheaper to plant the Durana and the maintenance has not been bad at all compared to planting every fall. But then again, we do not have a no-till drill, so we do not have that as an option right now.
 
When we converted +/- 80% of our plots to clover, we sprayed, then cut, then sprayed again, tilled when we were ready to plant. Broadcast wrens abruzzi rye, cultipacked, broadcast Durana and a medium red, then packed again. The process was started in mid August and we planted in early October in Morgan county zone 8A. Our Durana has never gone dormant that we could tell. One spraying the first year with cleth and 24db, then we cut at 10" once or twice per year there after. An alternate option would be to use a weed wipe at 10" but our weeds have not been bad except one plot. We do broadcast WAR each fall to help with weed suppression and add more medium red every third year. One of our plots had crimson planted several years prior and it comes back thick every year. I am not a fan other then the OM it is providing.

Overall, it has been much cheaper to plant the Durana and the maintenance has not been bad at all compared to planting every fall. But then again, we do not have a no-till drill, so we do not have that as an option right now.
I have a number of pure durana food plots and have no intention of treating these with gly. As others have mentioned I also spray in the spring with Clethodim, sometimes also with 24D and then mow.
What I do want to try is planting some Durana mixed with annual clovers along with cereal grains in my other food plots. With what I’ve experienced in recent years I expect the Durana will continue to spread and persist despite an annual burn down with gly.
Still looking for input on best annual clover to plant and whether to broadcast before drilling or use small seed box to drill. Concerned about drilling same time as large seed clover germination success will be compromised by getting planted too deep.
Thanks
 
So small seed box is made to plant things like clover at correct shallow level. Farmers bet their lives on it. Just make sure press wheels are set on most shallow setting.

If I had to pick two annual clovers for my area it would be Dixie crimson clover and blackhawk arrowleaf clover.

I will say a lot of people are liking fixation Balansa. It is grown in alabama, so I bought 25lbs to try out this fall. It is also in green covers fall release with frosty Berseem and I am trying some of that too.
 
I’m looking seriously at Merit Seeds Essential Blend clover mix
  • Crimson Clover
  • Frosty Berseem Clover
  • Fixation Balansa Clover
  • Arrow Leaf Clover
 
While it may not be the best, I looked back and we have been using GA-9908 medium red. We were not impressed with the balansa in our test plots, but did like the arrow leaf 2nd to the medium red. I will never plant crimson again.
 
Houston? I spent my first 2 summers after college working for a veterinarian in Perry. I definitely gets warm in the summer! And that was over 40 years ago!
Brantley and Jordon or Smiths?

My wife is a Registered Vet Tech.

Time has not made our summers any less miserable. The past 2 were not too bad but this one has been rough. I long for fall and winter.
 
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