Crimson and arrow leaf reseed?

[D Hunter]

Last year we seeded most of our plots with 10# crimson clover and 10# arrow leaf clover and some small grain for a nurse crop. Some sources say just add more small grain, disc lightly and let it go. Some sources say overseed with more clover. Which should it be? If overseeding with clover, how much to add this year? Hopefully going to get some reports from people who have been there and done that. Thanks. "D"

 

[Longleaf]

I use Crimson and Arrowleaf quite a bit in my mixes and my experience has been Crimson comes back without issue so long as you let it go to seed. My Arrowleaf gets hammered in May / early June and I really don't think it seeds out well. I made a larger exclusion cage one year trying to figure it out and came to the conclusion the Arrowleaf in the plot just gets hit too hard when it would normally be seeding out.

Arrowleaf does have a harder seed coat and needs to either be scarified or it will take two years to come back. That being said, if it never puts much seed out it is a moot point.

Assuming you let the Crimson go to seed it will be there and you can count on it. If you think your Arrowleaf seeded out, I would lightly disc it and not add any more seed. If you think it is questionable, add more Arrowleaf (10#).

 

[D Hunter]

Thanks longleaf. Not sure how things bloomed out or were eaten. Haven't been able to get down there since turkey season.

 

[Longleaf]

I would go ahead and put a full rate of Arrowleaf down this year then. One thing I really like about Arrowleaf is it fills a gap between my spring plots fading and my summer plots getting going good. That gap exists largely because I don't like to plant during turkey season so my summer forage is a month behind. Even with a good bit of native browse coming on in May, my plots still get hit hard and the Arrowleaf takes the brunt of it.