Clover spray

[r49740]

How soon you all start spraying your clover plots and what do you spray them with to kill the other weeds and keep the clover? How often or how many times a year you usually spray?

 

[yoderjac]

I spray a broad spectrum herbicide like gly before planting perennial clover in the fall and plant with a Winter Rye nurse crop. The next spring, each time the WR gets much taller than a foot, I'll mow it back to 6"-8" (depending on clover type) to release the clover. The winter rye takes up resources and has a chemical effect that minimizes germination of many weed seeds. After that, I become very weed tolerant. Most plants that farmers consider weeds are great deer food and actually enhance the plot. During the summer you wouldn't even think my plots had clover in them from a distance. Just looks like weeds. Before the season in the fall when cool nights and regular rain begin to favor clover, I mow. You wouldn't think it was the same field in the fall with the clover bouncing back and dominating.

As clover banks N into the soil, it becomes more and more attractive to grasses and they begin to make up more of the field. After 5 to 7 years or so, the grasses begin to dominate. At that point, I'll spray 1 qt/ac gly in early fall with a good rain in the forecast. I'm not in a big ag area that has a lot of weeds that have developed gly resistance. The amount of gly will kill all the grasses and top-kill the clover. I'll then drill WR and GHR into the clover. It will germinate and get above the clover. The clover then bounces back from the root system. It makes a very attractive plot that fall with the greater variety. Because the grasses were killed, that clover field will give me another 3 to 5 years before the grasses dominate.

At that point, it is time to rotate into some N-seeking crop for a season or two to use the banked N.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bill]

Clethodim to kill grass

2,4 D-B “Butyrac” to kill other broadleaf weeds.

Imox to smoke everything out of an old field of clover. Just do a search here on Imox and figure out how much farmer Dan says to use. It’s expensive but it works.

 

[yoderjac]

If you do decide to spay cleth, it won't hurt young clover, but the crop oil that goes with it can. So, consider a non-ionic surfactant. Once your clover is well established (year 2) the crop oil should be fine. It will hurt chicory if you mixed that with your clvoer.

 

[r49740]

So what would you use for a surfactant for the clover? It is mostly a year old. I also frost seeded this year as well so the young stuff is emerging now.

 

[yoderjac]

So what would you use for a surfactant for the clover? It is mostly a year old. I also frost seeded this year as well so the young stuff is emerging now.

It would be fine on year old clover but not the newly planted stuff. Read the label. It will give you alternatives to Crop Oil.