kick start clover with urea

[WI hunter]

Does it help a clover plot to add some urea in the spring before a good rain? I have a small plot and some leftover urea, just wondering if it would help.

 

[Peplin Creek]

i don't believe you want to use urea since clover doesn't need nitrogen and you will probably feed the weeds more with it. Normally they recommend something with low to no nitrogen for a maintenance fertilizer.

 

[j-bird]

I agree - typically grasses LOVE nitrogen, and adding it to existing clover could be counterproductive. Save the urea for grass plantings (corn, wheat, oats, rye) OR brassica plantings (turnips & radish). Or to give you a healthier looking lawn at home!

 

[northernpotter]

I believe potash 0-0-60 is good for alfalfas and clovers. Not sure the rate per acreage.

 

[yoderjac]

Does it help a clover plot to add some urea in the spring before a good rain? I have a small plot and some leftover urea, just wondering if it would help.

When you first plant perennial clover in the fall with a cereal nurse crop, it needs nitrogen. Whether your soil has sufficient N is a different question. Until clover develops a root system with the symbiotic nodules and certainly cereal need N. Most soil tests don't test for N. Most fertilizer recommendations are based on the needs of the crop (from a farmer's monoculture maximum yield perspective) and nothing more. More sophisticated recommendations look at banked N based on previous legume crops.

By the following spring, most of the clover has germinated and is putting down a root system under the cover of the nurse crop. Mowing the nurse crop releases the clover to sun without killing it. The nurse crop, preferably Winter Rye, continues to take up space that weeds would otherwise use. WR specifically has a chemical effect on weeds as well. At this point you want to avoid adding N. The cereal will die naturally in the summer and N will simply encourage weed development. Once the clover is well established, it can fix N from the air. If you have not planted clover in the field before, be sure to inoculate it or buy pre-inoculated. This will speed the development of the nodules on the roots needed to fix N.

All the recommendations above are spot on for this time of year.

Thanks,

Jack