Clover Help

[Prelude8626]

had a question regarding clover cover crop. I frost seeded some MR and Ladino clover earlier this spring. There is also some WR left over from last fall. One plot is doing better then the other. The poor one is extremely spotty with clover but the ground is very compacted and hard. I’m trying not to disc the areas because of raising the old seed bed. What would be a good cover crop to throw down to help protect the new clover and give extra food. Or am I better to disc it all up and start over? I was thinking buckwheat but that might take over too much. Camera shows it maybe a little better.

 

[eclipseman]

had a question regarding clover cover crop. I frost seeded some MR and Ladino clover earlier this spring. There is also some WR left over from last fall. One plot is doing better then the other. The poor one is extremely spotty with clover but the ground is very compacted and hard. I’m trying not to disc the areas because of raising the old seed bed. What would be a good cover crop to throw down to help protect the new clover and give extra food. Or am I better to disc it all up and start over? I was thinking buckwheat but that might take over too much. Camera shows it maybe a little better.

Your best bet in the spotty plot is a fall planting of cereal rye and clover. You can lightly disc the surface of the soil to fluff the bed up a bit without bringing up too much weed seed. Like im talking an inch or so deep. The cereal rye has allopathic effects and will help prevent some of the weeds from growing. Deer like cereal rye when it is young so it will still draw deer in while also acting as a cover crop for the new clover you plant with it. Then come spring the cereal rye will grow along with the clover. Once the cereal rye is getting to about 6-8inches in the spring you can then mow it to kill it and allow the clover to take over. Anytime I have done this, I get very little weeds. the only clover field I have weeds in is one that I frost seeded like you did and it is a battle to fight the weeds. Im actually contemplating starting over in that field.

 

[Prelude8626]

I did do WR last fall and the deer didn’t touch it. That why I went the route of frost seeding clover.

 

[eclipseman]

I did do WR last fall and the deer didn’t touch it. That why I went the route of frost seeding clover.

I meant planting clover with the winter rye at the same time in the fall.