how to maintain my clover plot

[Wild Thing]

I like to let that cereal crop go all the way to maturity and near falling down. I think that excess carbon is very important to the overall health of the clover, and the excess carbon also helps discourage grasses from sprouting up from free nitrogen. All that free nitrogen gets tied up trying to break down that fresh straw crop laying on the ground. Also, don't underestimate the value of 5'+ of fibrous rye or wheat roots helping bore channels and pull up nutrients.

I have done that also SD51555. Perhaps inadvertently. Had back surgery in June and didn't get back on the tractor until August:

August 5th after mowing the rye...



Same plot on September 18th. You would have thought that all of that rye would have smothered the young clovers but...not at all.
There is also some rye coming up here which I had broadcasted into the clover earlier.

 

[SD51555]

Mine did the same thing. I used a crappy rental goat to mow mine, and it mowed about half, and just pushed the other half over. One much needed shot of rain about two weeks after this, and you'd never know there were tons/ac of straw under that clover. Legumes love trash. I also threw winter wheat into the stand before I mowed it down.

 

[Bassattackr]

In an established perennial clover stand - how much volunteer rye you all get after mowing after the seed has dried down? That would be waiting until about Sept 1 for me.

I'd like to leave my rye standing for fawns + turkey, quail nesting this year.

 

[SD51555]

In an established perennial clover stand - how much volunteer rye you all get after mowing after the seed has dried down? That would be waiting until about Sept 1 for me.

I'd like to leave my rye standing for fawns + turkey, quail nesting this year.

I can't really tell you until June of this year. I'm guessing very little given the mower I used didn't shatter the heads. I'm ok with that. I just used rye there as a pioneer crop. I'd rather have cat wheat instead once the soil is up and functioning.

 

[Wild Thing]

In an established perennial clover stand - how much volunteer rye you all get after mowing after the seed has dried down? That would be waiting until about Sept 1 for me.

I'd like to leave my rye standing for fawns + turkey, quail nesting this year.

My clover plots get very thick with clovers so I don't get a lot of germination if I let the rye mature and mow it...which is why I drill rye into the clovers.

But...in cover crop stands where the clovers are not quite as thick you would get a lot of free rye by mowing the previous rye crop after the seed becomes viable.

This is a cover crop I had drilled the previous August (2020). This is June 11, 2021. While most of the crop had winter killed or been fully consumed by deer, I still have plenty of Hairy Vetch, Crimson and Medium Red Clovers, and Rye the following year. There was a lot of great forage here so I let it stand. It did provide nice fawning and turkey cover as well.



June 16th



July 15th. I knew I wanted to mow the rye to provide a new crop of rye in this plot but the seed wasn't viable yet on this date.



A week or two later the seed is becoming darker and hard ...



I mowed it with my brush hog on August 7th...




After some timely rains....9 days later on August 16th I've got a lot of volunteer rye coming up...



August 30th - 21 days after mowing the rye I've got a great looking food plot with lots of rye, clovers, and vetch to feed my deer again.



Don't have any more photos but the deer fed in this plot all fall and will be in there again when the snow melts in the spring. Keep in mind, I am getting 2 years of forage out of this plot and all I did was mow it once a year after first drilling it. I didn't fertilize it or over seed it with anything except for the volunteer rye which came up on its own after I mowed it. If I remember I can post some updated photos of it this coming spring when the rye grows above the clovers. I will terminate this cover crop in early July this year and drill my brassicas into it.



So yes - if the clovers are not super thick you can get a good crop of volunteer rye by just mowing it when the seed becomes viable.

 

[Bassattackr]

@Wildthing - Dr Harper would be proud.

Great feedback, thank you.

 

[jsasker007]

Love seeing pictures of anything green this time of year.

 

[Wild Thing]

Here is another example of a free crop of rye by just mowing a mature crop. July 31st - this was a pure stand of rye I had planted the previous fall - maybe a little volunteer vetch in there but pretty much all rye... I mowed it with my brush hog a week or so later - the first week of August. (This is in the U.P. of Michigan)



A month later on September 8th. All I did was mow this - nothing else. With a little bit of rain if the seed can find its way to the soil it is going to germinate.



September 24th ...a nice thick, lush stand of winter rye...



September 24th - Doesn't get much easier than this. No fertilizer, no seed, no discing, no tilling - just mow the mature rye. The following spring I terminated the rye with Gly and drilled a crop of sugar beets.

 

[Wild Thing]

@Wildthing - Dr Harper would be proud.

Great feedback, thank you.

LOL - I had the pleasure of meeting Craig at the QDMA (NDA) Deer Steward II course last year. What a walking book of knowledge and a super nice guy.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I'm taking notes & saving this thread. Saving money and tillage R us. Great looking plots gentlemen!!!

 

[SD51555]

I could talk about clover strategies all day long. My absolute favorite subject.

 

[SD51555]

I push really hard to get my clover + mix up and over 20 species (nearly half are 'unintended plants' I allow) and keep it there. It's always going to be majority clover, but I push as hard as I can to drown it out with broadleaves and grasses, bought and native. I even spent money on ragweed seed last year and put that in my blend. Threw in some coneflowers, black eyed susans, and willowherb too. Seems like the harder I try to set back my clover with competition and mowing, it just comes back stronger.

I'm not sure what category flax is in, but I spread flax into my clover twice a year. You only need about 2 lbs/ac (I go 4) and at 70 cents/lb, you can't afford to not have a bag of flax in the seed bin. It does all kinds of goodies for the soil, but I can't give all those secrets away.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I probably asked this elsewhere on here, but - can crimson clover be frost-seeded? I know various red clovers and whites can - not sure about crimson.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[yoderjac]

I probably asked this elsewhere on here, but - can crimson clover be frost-seeded? I know various red clovers and whites can - not sure about crimson.

Thanks for any advice.

I have not had any luck frost seeding crimson. I think the seed is a little too large.

 

[Nightvision]

Op and others,
If you have not tried Durana clover you should. It is the toughest white clover out there and nothing can compete with it IMO. I do think Ladino is a little more attractive to their palate but that’s the only positive IMO.

I plant mine in the fall with a nurse crop of oats. Up north, wheat or rye would be a better option. About the end of February ( when buds are starting to appear on my trees) I spray with cleth. I go back about 2 weeks later and mow and also spread some 0-20-20. Doing it this way, I will have a great stand of clover by turkey season.

Our summers are usually rough on clovers and most will die. The Durana will look dead but bounces back in deer season. This works out well because it allows us to drill oats into the Durana and have a great fall food source.

 

[homerj1]

If you have not tried Durana clover you should.

Durana isn't reliably winter hardy in zones 3 and 4

 

[yoderjac]

Op and others,
If you have not tried Durana clover you should. It is the toughest white clover out there and nothing can compete with it IMO. I do think Ladino is a little more attractive to their palate but that’s the only positive IMO.

I plant mine in the fall with a nurse crop of oats. Up north, wheat or rye would be a better option. About the end of February ( when buds are starting to appear on my trees) I spray with cleth. I go back about 2 weeks later and mow and also spread some 0-20-20. Doing it this way, I will have a great stand of clover by turkey season.

Our summers are usually rough on clovers and most will die. The Durana will look dead but bounces back in deer season. This works out well because it allows us to drill oats into the Durana and have a great fall food source.

I have not had any indication at my place that ladino is favored by deer over durana.

 

[SD51555]

Op and others,
If you have not tried Durana clover you should. It is the toughest white clover out there and nothing can compete with it IMO. I do think Ladino is a little more attractive to their palate but that’s the only positive IMO.

I plant mine in the fall with a nurse crop of oats. Up north, wheat or rye would be a better option. About the end of February ( when buds are starting to appear on my trees) I spray with cleth. I go back about 2 weeks later and mow and also spread some 0-20-20. Doing it this way, I will have a great stand of clover by turkey season.

Our summers are usually rough on clovers and most will die. The Durana will look dead but bounces back in deer season. This works out well because it allows us to drill oats into the Durana and have a great fall food source.

It's interesting you say that. I have been looking for the weakest white clovers. I want something that will be durable, but I also want it to play night with others. I've had stands of mostly ladino that end up being too aggressive to get cereals up in them after their establishment year. Then the grasses come and it's a whole ordeal. I've fallen back to just plain dutch white clover, and even that is on the edge of too aggressive, but so far I've been able to work with it. I'm up in the icebox north.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I have done that also SD51555. Perhaps inadvertently. Had back surgery in June and didn't get back on the tractor until August:

August 5th after mowing the rye...

View attachment 40366

Same plot on September 18th. You would have thought that all of that rye would have smothered the young clovers but...not at all.
There is also some rye coming up here which I had broadcasted into the clover earlier.

View attachment 40367

Does anyone know or think that frost seeding clover into a plot like this would work? That tall rye would definitely "protect" the already established clover, but would the clover that was frost-seeded into it get enough sunlight/nutrients to get going and thrive later on?

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I probably asked this elsewhere on here, but - can crimson clover be frost-seeded? I know various red clovers and whites can - not sure about crimson.

Thanks for any advice.

I have "overseeded" crimson (to me this means waiting till later in April, even early May when most of the threat of frost is gone) and had great success...