Clover Seeding Question

[bigbendmarine]

So... on the heels of 100 days of dry weather we had a couple of days of rain a week ago, and with Tropical Storm Nestor following and on a direct path towards my place I tilled my plots between the rains ... but only had time to get about 1 of 4 acres I typically plant seeded.

The good news is I got my favorite / primary hunting plot MOSTLY seeded. I'll let the other areas dry out a bit more and seed when ready.

Which leads me to my question. In my absolute favorite plot I got a mix of rye, triticale, and winter peas down and smoothed over with a homemade chain link drag I use. Unfortunately, dark caught me before I could put down clover on the smoothed plot.

Though the supposed "center" of T.S. Nestor went right over us we didn't get flooding rains (central Florida got much heavier rains than us), but with it cloudy today I'm guessing the plot is now fairly damp and I'd love to get the clover seed down before the plot starts sprouting too much and also in the interest of time as our gun season opens early in Nov so I'd like to get done working in it to let things settle down. So given the damp soil scenario, should I just cast the clover and a) still trying pulling the drag over it?, b) not pull the drag over it, but maybe just drive over the seed with UTV tires?, c) not even bother trying to cast the clover seed, or d) ??? some other alternative I haven't listed?

Any / all advice be much appreciated.

 

[scott44]

If nothing else has sprouted I'd broadcast the clover and cultipack/drive over the seed if it's not too wet.

 

[LEWI B]

Have had good success just throwing seed on bare ground in your situation.
Clover seed is so small the dew will make it stick for good soil contact.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I would broadcast and let it be for reasons stated above

just curious, why did you choose rye and triticale?

bill

 

[Bill]

I’m with everyone else. On tilled ground just toss it on the ground.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Ground was soft but not actually very wet, and only a small portion of the deeper planted seeds had broken above the dirt so I broadcast the clover in a fairly wide ring around the outer edge of the plot and drove my UTV over the portion where I put clover down.

Did something just a bit different this year in that I broadcast sections / strips of the winter peas, brassica, and even some sunflower seeds (strictly for quick attraction) in the linear direction I most prefer the deer traveling for shot placement. The strips actually run a bit diagonally across my plot so be interesting to see if it affects the actual flow of traffic.

TreeDaddy, as for the triticale being mixed in with the rye -- just doing it in two of six small plots I plant and mostly for smorgasbord attraction. The triticale does REALLY well in my acidic soils and the deer utilize it, though not quite as aggressively as with most of the other components I throw in the mix. On the flip side once they get tall enough and become less palatable they produce seed heads and really draw in birds / game that feed on them. Picture's a couple of years old but is of the triticale going into the spring in a field I planted it fairly heavily in triticale. Might should add my 100 acres, of which about 5 acres are planted as plots, sits up against a quail plantation that's 4,000 acres in size so my ability to impact the herd is somewhat limited and I'm primarily looking to make the acreage as much of an attractive, generally peaceful sanctuary as possible to have deer visiting during the rut.

 

[WeedyJ]

I feel your pain. I'm in middle Georgia and thought I'd get out my clover and oats at Labor Day. I have Some areas covered with irrigation, but it's a JOB to move my pump. Planted and had nothing but 98 degrees and no rain until Nestor. The irrigation helped it survive but not thrive. Planted more clover via broadcasting only before Nestor resulted in some cotyledons last week.Oats are up but only about 4 inches. Can't wait to go tomorrow to see what's popped. May top off with some Triple 19.

 

[Bowman]

Ground was soft but not actually very wet, and only a small portion of the deeper planted seeds had broken above the dirt so I broadcast the clover in a fairly wide ring around the outer edge of the plot and drove my UTV over the portion where I put clover down.

Did something just a bit different this year in that I broadcast sections / strips of the winter peas, brassica, and even some sunflower seeds (strictly for quick attraction) in the linear direction I most prefer the deer traveling for shot placement. The strips actually run a bit diagonally across my plot so be interesting to see if it affects the actual flow of traffic.

TreeDaddy, as for the triticale being mixed in with the rye -- just doing it in two of six small plots I plant and mostly for smorgasbord attraction. The triticale does REALLY well in my acidic soils and the deer utilize it, though not quite as aggressively as with most of the other components I throw in the mix. On the flip side once they get tall enough and become less palatable they produce seed heads and really draw in birds / game that feed on them. Picture's a couple of years old but is of the triticale going into the spring in a field I planted it fairly heavily in triticale. Might should add my 100 acres, of which about 5 acres are planted as plots, sits up against a quail plantation that's 4,000 acres in size so my ability to impact the herd is somewhat limited and I'm primarily looking to make the acreage as much of an attractive, generally peaceful sanctuary as possible to have deer visiting during the rut.

View attachment 26756

I like the strips idea. How is the clover doing and what type is it?

 

[bigbendmarine]

I like the strips idea. How is the clover doing and what type is it?

Just starting to pop up in the couple of small spots I planted first. Planted few more spots this past week right before another timely rain.

Actually plant a few types. Crimson (Dixie variety) thrives down my way in North Florida, makes gorgeous flowers, and reseeds VERY well... but on the flip side blooms earliest in spring and then goes brown relatively quickly. I would plant arrowleaf, as it blooms just as crimson is slowing and lasts about another month but it's hard to find locally. Someone planted some on my place years back though, so still have some naturally growing stands from natural reseeding in spots. Past few years have planted a ladino developed for Florida with nematode resistance called Ocoee and it lasted well through the summer and thrived as long as we had regular rains. It didn't do quite as well this year when we went brutally dry late summer. Planted the last bit of it I had left over and also planted a couple of similar spots in durana to see how they do by comparison next summer. I honestly plant the clover less as a fall draw at this point than to benefit the local deer population in the coming spring and summer, thus the reason for mixing up options and trying to maximize availability throughout the year.

 

[WeedyJ]

Just starting to pop up in the couple of small spots I planted first. Planted few more spots this past week right before another timely rain.

Actually plant a few types. Crimson (Dixie variety) thrives down my way in North Florida, makes gorgeous flowers, and reseeds VERY well... but on the flip side blooms earliest in spring and then goes brown relatively quickly. I would plant arrowleaf, as it blooms just as crimson is slowing and lasts about another month but it's hard to find locally. Someone planted some on my place years back though, so still have some naturally growing stands from natural reseeding in spots. Past few years have planted a ladino developed for Florida with nematode resistance called Ocoee and it lasted well through the summer and thrived as long as we had regular rains. It didn't do quite as well this year when we went brutally dry late summer. Planted the last bit of it I had left over and also planted a couple of similar spots in durana to see how they do by comparison next summer. I honestly plant the clover less as a fall draw at this point than to benefit the local deer population in the coming spring and summer, thus the reason for mixing up options and trying to maximize availability throughout the year.

That pretty much mirrors my situation. I have not put out Durana or any perennial clovers, but use Arrowleaf, which the deer seem to prefer. I clovered all my plots for the spring biomass I can use to plant into.