Inoculated Clover ? Medium Red or Ladino for sandy soil in Central Wis. zone 4b ?

[Joe Buck]

For food plotting do we need to use inoculated clovers? If so, what is the best way to inoculate? Also Medium Red or Ladino in sandy soil in Central Wis. or a combination of both. Thank you for your response.

 

[Barndog56]

My ladino is just starting to come back from being crispy during our drought, while the red clover was growing the whole time. I won't ever have a clover plot without at least some red in it.

 

[yoderjac]

For food plotting do we need to use inoculated clovers? If so, what is the best way to inoculate? Also Medium Red or Ladino in sandy soil in Central Wis. or a combination of both. Thank you for your response.

The answer is no, you don't "need" to inoculate clover. There is a symbiotic relationship between some ribosomes and legumes like clover. The ribosomes help clover fix N from the atmosphere. It has no effect on germination rates and clover will still grow well without the ribosomes. If the field already had clover growing in it, and you are not destroying the microbiome of your soil by tillage, there will be plenty of the ribosomes in the soil and inoculation will make no difference.

If this is the first time clover (or another legume that has a relationship with the same ribosome) been planted in the field (new field for example), it is wise to inoculate the clover. This will help the clover fix N. In this case, it will benefit the clover and more importantly, the clover will bank more N in the soil for future crops.

One more note. Quite a bit of clover seed, especially BOB seed, is coated with an inoculate (pre-inoculated). You certainly don't want to waste time inoculating this seed. Also, keep in mind that the weight marked on the bag includes the coating. This can really add up with small seeded crops like clover. You end up getting a lot fewer seeds for your money than buying seeds that are not coated.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[JFK52]

I have red clover that grows naturally on my land in Portage county. It is part of the seed bank and pops up on it's own. One year when I had a thick coating of paper mill sludge dumped on a fallow 12 acre full sun flat field in the middle of the summer, the red clover came up through the sludge in huge amounts. I had done nothing but mowed the field in preparation for the sludge dumping. The paper mill sludge must have smothered any weeds that wanted to come up, but had just the right properties in it to get the red clover to germinate.
I have 15 foot wide fire break / driving lane that goes around the entire perimeter of my 12.5 prairie restoration. I have been planting RR ag and Eagle soy beans on it for the past two years so that I can get good weed control. Next fall after a spring controlled burn I plan on putting in clover on this area. There will definitely be a good amount if not all of red clover in my planting mix.

 

[wiscwhip]

We plotted just across the river to the west in Juneau Co for 25+ years, plant the medium red. The stoloniferous growth of white clovers with the roots close to the surface will dry out very quickly in that beach sand. Reds have more of what would be described as a "tap" root, which will provide a better opportunity to gather water in very dry conditions.

 

[bueller]

As others have said, go with the red.