Need options herbicide to kill weeds in Ladino clover (mainly grasses)

[eclipseman]

I have a 2 year old .7 acre ladino clover plot which is doing decent. Some areas are near weedless while others are starting to have grasses take over. I would like to get another year or two out of this plot so what can I spray to try and kill the grasses which are coming in or at least slow them down? (as an FYI I do mow it back to 6+ inches when it reaches 10-12 inches) Thanks!

 

[eclipseman]

as an FYI the main weed I believe is Johnson grass which I hear is hard to control so I might be starting over this fall it sounds but I would rather not if I can help it.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I don't know about the particulars of Johnson grass, but clethodim will kill most grass in clover without harming the clover. We've used it in our plots with good success. I got ours from Keystone. They're based in Oregon or Idaho, but they have a shipping center in western Pa. We got a 2.5 gal. jug of concentrate.

 

[Buckly]

You can use cleth, make sure you use crop oil with it or you will be wasting your time. I personally have never seen ladino that won’t eventually take over the grass with timed mowings. Remember ladino is a cool season grass and is at its best in April, May and Sept, October. Let it seed out several times in the summer but wether mowing or spraying don’t do it when it’s stressed. Never in the summer unless it’s been cool and wet for several weeks.

 

[yoderjac]

I find cleth works best if grasses are young in the spring. I've had less success with it in the summer/fall when grasses are more mature. I have had good success with glyphosate on well established perennial clover like ladino. Apply it at 1 qt/ac when you have rain in the forecast. It will kill both grasses and broadleaf weeds. It will top kill the clover but it will bounce right back.

There are several caveats for this technique:

1) Gly will stress the clover, make sure it is the only stress. Timing is key. Don't do this if you won't have a good rain or two soon afterward. It is typically done in the spring or fall with the weather favors clover.

2) This technique should not be used if you are in a big farming areas where gly-resistance has become a problem.

There is one more variant of this technique that can be used with Ladino clover in the south. In the dead of summer, ladino will go dormant and stop growing. I turns brown and is not actively growing. In this state, gly won't affect it at all. So, you can spray in the dead of summer when weeds are actively growing but the clover is not. I won't use this variant on Durana in my area because it goes dormant for such a short period in the summer, but ladino goes dormant significantly longer in my area.

I'm not saying not to use cleth and crop oil, but I find that more effective in the spring when grasses are just getting started. Gly easily kills well established grasses.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[skeeterbit]

Have not posted in awhile but refer back to this particular site often, lots of good info and practical knowledge on this site. Posters here convinced me to consider trying Cleth. Here are some recent findings/learnings that may be of help for pure clover plots.
I have a 4.5ac Durana and Advantage pure white ladino plot that is now past year 2. Neither of these clovers are advertised as being Clethodim resistant. In the past been mowing it when the grass started showing hard, cutting the clover back down to about 8-9" which seems to keep the grass and broad leaf's in a manageable check. This spring started a new 1/2ac ladino plot that the grass was out-competing the clover (due to a soil test ph vs lime miscalculation). After much anxiety decided to spray it with Clense 26.4% Clethodim as a test spray plot as I was on the verge of losing it. 16oz Cleth to 25gal water to 1ac with my UTV boom sprayer. Did not use any oil and had 2 days before any rain. Again anxious. Results were 100% positive so I fixed the ph imbalance. Then decided to spray the rest of the plot for grass using a crop oil additive. Again results were 100% positive and a game changer. Took around 9-10 days for grass to start yellowing (no oil) but in 3 weeks it was dead. Used crop oil when sprayed the other 4ac but have not noticed a quicker kill. Sprayed on July 1 and again in mid July so Cleth worked for me 90-95deg in the summer. Clover never showed any signs of stress whatsoever. Main grasses killed were fescue and scattered Johnson grass. Eye opener was the price difference of 1gal of Cleth at COOP for $70 and Arrest for a ridiculous price of $37pint. This new grass managing process will save me many man and equipment hours. Can post kill process pics as my plot is close if anyone wants.
Mods not trying to endorse any particular product. Just relaying what I have and what worked for me so Mods feel free to Mod.
r/James

 

[yoderjac]

Have not posted in awhile but refer back to this particular site often, lots of good info and practical knowledge on this site. Posters here convinced me to consider trying Cleth. Here are some recent findings/learnings that may be of help for pure clover plots.
I have a 4.5ac Durana and Advantage pure white ladino plot that is now past year 2. Neither of these clovers are advertised as being Clethodim resistant. In the past been mowing it when the grass started showing hard, cutting the clover back down to about 8-9" which seems to keep the grass and broad leaf's in a manageable check. This spring started a new 1/2ac ladino plot that the grass was out-competing the clover (due to a soil test ph vs lime miscalculation). After much anxiety decided to spray it with Clense 26.4% Clethodim as a test spray plot as I was on the verge of losing it. 16oz Cleth to 25gal water to 1ac with my UTV boom sprayer. Did not use any oil and had 2 days before any rain. Again anxious. Results were 100% positive so I fixed the ph imbalance. Then decided to spray the rest of the plot for grass using a crop oil additive. Again results were 100% positive and a game changer. Took around 9-10 days for grass to start yellowing (no oil) but in 3 weeks it was dead. Used crop oil when sprayed the other 4ac but have not noticed a quicker kill. Sprayed on July 1 and again in mid July so Cleth worked for me 90-95deg in the summer. Clover never showed any signs of stress whatsoever. Main grasses killed were fescue and scattered Johnson grass. Eye opener was the price difference of 1gal of Cleth at COOP for $70 and Arrest for a ridiculous price of $37pint. This new grass managing process will save me many man and equipment hours. Can post kill process pics as my plot is close if anyone wants.
Mods not trying to endorse any particular product. Just relaying what I have and what worked for me so Mods feel free to Mod.
r/James

Arrest is a brand name. Clethodim is the active ingredient in Arrest. You will always pay more for the marketing and such with a BOB related product like Arrest. Clethodim (Arrest, Select, or generic) is a grass selective herbicides and will not harm clover (which is a legume) regardless of the variety of clover.

Clethodim, like most herbicides used for crops is typically specified in the amount per acre, not a dilution rate (so many oz of herbicide per gal of water). The amount of water needed depends on the particular herbicide, but it is generally enough to get good dilution. The amount of herbicide to use depends on how much water your particular sprayer and its pressure and the speed of your UTV puts out in 1 acre. The big key is to calibrate your sprayer so you are delivering the correct amount of chemical on a per gal basis. Crop oil is an odd ball. It is usually specified as a dilution rate. Most often I've seen 1%v/v. This means if you are using 25 gal of water you need .25 gal of Crop oil (1% of the amount of water).

No need to be anxious. Cleth on clover is a common practice.

The next step in our evolution is developing "weed tolerance". Read some of the other threads on here to get some perspectives on that. There are some good discussions that defy the food plot industry's push. There is some good research defying the conventional wisdom of mowing clover as well.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cspot]

I have used Cleth with good success and also have recently been using Imox for clover. IMox is the genertic form of Raptor. Nice thing about it is it kills grass and broadleaf.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Another consideration to increase longevity of stands of clover is managing nitrogen. Grasses love N and clover fixes it in the soil. Over time a clover plot will contribute a bunch of N, the grasses respond, and voila...the fight to keep the clover ensues. One thing I do that works well at managing N while providing benefit to wildlife is drilling wheat into clover. It helps consume some of the N and can be clipped high the following spring.