Clover for mowable lawn areas?

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5 year old buck +
Going to forst seed some clover in the lawn again. MY wife likes to run the zero turn, I've twisted her arm to leave the mower higher in a few spots. Any lawn repairs are done with clover. Tons of various weeds i nthere too. Dandelion, crabgrass, plantain, and creeping charlie. Never use fertilizer with weed killer. Have used clethodim around tree plantings though..... I do wish the creeping charlie wasn't around, but 2,4D is not freidnly to clover or other deer and rabbit forage in there.

I've been using dutch white and ladino clover. I have a bag of dutch white, but no regular ladino. I have a bag of peddington patriot clover I'm tempted to use. I do have a buffet of clover seeds I mix up I can use. Dutch white, durana, crimson, medium red, ladino, chickory, and touch of alfalpha. Pretty much anything I can find for a decent rice mixed up. This in my foodplot seed. I know some of those do not take well to manicuring.

Anybody do the same thing? Any other prep you like to do. I do rake up the spot a bit to clear up the thatch. Which I will do around my new apple trees out back.

As I learned on here, pure clover is not sustainable C-N balance.

Tempted to try some of that microclover in the mix.
 
I have planted a bunch of white Dutch in my yard. I have deer in my yard all the time. I figured my yard is about 4 acres, that is useful now that I planted clover.
 
I frost seeded the backyard with Dutch White a few years ago. Worked very well. I would throw down any assorted clovers I had left over whenever doing plots as well. Was happy how it ultimately turned out (then we moved last winter - hope the new owners are enjoying the daily deer visits 😆). We had creeping Charlie issues as well - 2,4 db (the B part is important) helped knock it back without hurting the clover.
 
the benefits of clover in the lawn is that it stays a lot lower and mowing is easier and less often. Downside is in July and August it can go dormant and you have a very brown lawn if you’re concerned about appearance.
 
Going to forst seed some clover in the lawn again. MY wife likes to run the zero turn, I've twisted her arm to leave the mower higher in a few spots. Any lawn repairs are done with clover. Tons of various weeds i nthere too. Dandelion, crabgrass, plantain, and creeping charlie. Never use fertilizer with weed killer. Have used clethodim around tree plantings though..... I do wish the creeping charlie wasn't around, but 2,4D is not freidnly to clover or other deer and rabbit forage in there.

I've been using dutch white and ladino clover. I have a bag of dutch white, but no regular ladino. I have a bag of peddington patriot clover I'm tempted to use. I do have a buffet of clover seeds I mix up I can use. Dutch white, durana, crimson, medium red, ladino, chickory, and touch of alfalpha. Pretty much anything I can find for a decent rice mixed up. This in my foodplot seed. I know some of those do not take well to manicuring.

Anybody do the same thing? Any other prep you like to do. I do rake up the spot a bit to clear up the thatch. Which I will do around my new apple trees out back.

As I learned on here, pure clover is not sustainable C-N balance.

Tempted to try some of that microclover in the mix.

I apply nothing to my lawn. Just mow every now and then. It is a mix of fescue (that was originally planted before I bought the house), clover (who knows what kind), crabgrass, a mix of weeds. I mow low when I mow so I don't have to do it as often. During the heat of summer, I've got the only green lawn in the development.
 
I have been frost seeding clover in different areas for the past few years. Never considered using 2,4db on the lawn itself. My mulch beds get crawling with the stuff.

Ladino and white dutch works well. Had a good chunk of my lawn die. Went from a drought lawn to a 10 day flooded one. Also, been a few years since I did a good frost seeding.

Never seen creeping charlie with bite marks in it. Pretty sure it has no wildlife value. Woodchucks love the larger bunches of crabgrass on the tree cage edges.
 
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Going to forst seed some clover in the lawn again. MY wife likes to run the zero turn, I've twisted her arm to leave the mower higher in a few spots. Any lawn repairs are done with clover. Tons of various weeds i nthere too. Dandelion, crabgrass, plantain, and creeping charlie. Never use fertilizer with weed killer. Have used clethodim around tree plantings though..... I do wish the creeping charlie wasn't around, but 2,4D is not freidnly to clover or other deer and rabbit forage in there.

I've been using dutch white and ladino clover. I have a bag of dutch white, but no regular ladino. I have a bag of peddington patriot clover I'm tempted to use. I do have a buffet of clover seeds I mix up I can use. Dutch white, durana, crimson, medium red, ladino, chickory, and touch of alfalpha. Pretty much anything I can find for a decent rice mixed up. This in my foodplot seed. I know some of those do not take well to manicuring.

Anybody do the same thing? Any other prep you like to do. I do rake up the spot a bit to clear up the thatch. Which I will do around my new apple trees out back.

As I learned on here, pure clover is not sustainable C-N balance.

Tempted to try some of that microclover in the mix.
Good timing on this post. I plan on doing the same this winter. Let’s be sure to post our results.
 
They have a micro clover that is advertised for lawns. Doesn't get very tall.
 
Going to forst seed some clover in the lawn again. MY wife likes to run the zero turn, I've twisted her arm to leave the mower higher in a few spots. Any lawn repairs are done with clover. Tons of various weeds i nthere too. Dandelion, crabgrass, plantain, and creeping charlie. Never use fertilizer with weed killer. Have used clethodim around tree plantings though..... I do wish the creeping charlie wasn't around, but 2,4D is not freidnly to clover or other deer and rabbit forage in there.

I've been using dutch white and ladino clover. I have a bag of dutch white, but no regular ladino. I have a bag of peddington patriot clover I'm tempted to use. I do have a buffet of clover seeds I mix up I can use. Dutch white, durana, crimson, medium red, ladino, chickory, and touch of alfalpha. Pretty much anything I can find for a decent rice mixed up. This in my foodplot seed. I know some of those do not take well to manicuring.

Anybody do the same thing? Any other prep you like to do. I do rake up the spot a bit to clear up the thatch. Which I will do around my new apple trees out back.

As I learned on here, pure clover is not sustainable C-N balance.

Tempted to try some of that microclover in the mix.
Microclover is pretty much a gimmick. It is just a white clover that will eventually return to a wild type. Save money and plant that.
 
Microclover is pretty much a gimmick. It is just a white clover that will eventually return to a wild type. Save money and plant that.
Didn't realize it's been out long enough for anyone to even make that assessment. First hand knowledge or hearsay?
 
Didn't realize it's been out long enough for anyone to even make that assessment. First hand knowledge or hearsay?

Perhaps it is gimmicky in this sense. We don't often see monocultures in nature. Folks with fescue monoculture lawns have to put a lot of energy into them to keep them a monoculture. In fact, clover used to be considered part of a healthy lawn, but the chemical companies could not come up with a chemical that would kill noxious weeds that would spare clover. The began an advertising campaign saying that clover attracts bees and you don't want you kids stung...

At any rate, I have plenty of common clover growing in my yard. Nothing planted. I just let nature take its course. Common clover just naturally became part of the lawn. I mow my lawn low. Mostly cause I'm lazy and want to mow less often. At any rate, over time, clover plants that tend to be tall, get mowed before they go to seed. Those that bloom below my mower height have an advantage and they dominate.

So, perhaps it is gimmicky in the sense that you will get a predominance of clover in your yard that is shorter than your mower height regardless if you plant "micro-clover" or not.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Im gonna pass. Thought it was $10'lb. $35 for 1lb $282 for 10 lbs.
 
Man my yard in some places is nothing but clover and I never planted any of it. I wish my clover in my plots looked as good as it does in my yard. I have a lot of creeping charlie and wild strawberry though. Those I would like to get rid of.
 
Didn't realize it's been out long enough for anyone to even make that assessment. First hand knowledge or hearsay?
Peer-reviewed data and first-hand experience in field-replicated trials. I have only seen one plot of multiple replications of multiple treatments that was resembling a "microclover". It has been around for about 20 years in the turf industry.
 
Man my yard in some places is nothing but clover and I never planted any of it. I wish my clover in my plots looked as good as it does in my yard. I have a lot of creeping charlie and wild strawberry though. Those I would like to get rid of.
Triclopyr in 2-3 sequential applications starting in early autumn will take care of the creeping charlie or ground ivy.
 
I would love to put down white dutch for my lawn because I like the way it looks, and mowing & maintenance would be simpler; however.......

.....we already have too many friggin' deer around as it is.

Trying to grow summertime flowers is a challenge. Growing arborvitae or other bushes.....requires putting them in wire prison.

In short, I need no more 'deer food' to attract 'em to my house

(ps....and I live in the damn city!)
 
My area has been a bit down on deer population.

EHD came through and probably killed 80%+ of the deer herd last sept. USed to see a dozen plus deer every morning down my mile of rd, every 2nd or 3rd day I see a small group now.

Foks next door moved in and mess with their dogs making a bunch of noise. Been a few times they wandered on my property looking for their dog without even asking.

Doesnt help this year I am doing alot of yard work. Removing old near dead apple trees, transplanting around spruce and toringo crabapple to line up for a new apple orchard.


Seed ranch gave me a bonus the other day. I ordered 5lbs patriot clover, sent me durana instead because they were out. Now, they sent me 5lbs of patriot on the house.......
 
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