Clover Maintenance

[sailinghudson25]

I have a 1/2 acre clover plot I planted august of last year with a wheat and oat nursery crop.   The stand is doing great, a bit of weeds, but mowing when they flowered helps a lot.   I put down 2 bags of 6-24-24, 3lbs of borax very well mixed into 4 bags of lime.   I also hand pull the bad weeds or spot eradicate them with the weedwacker.  

 

Do you like to plant something else once the nitrogen is built up from the clover?  Put something to kill the weeds?   Or just freshen it up with maybe a light discing and a frost seed?

 

Every year I ad 1/4 to 1/2 acre to my overall plot size from cutting down firewood.  I got another 2 years to go.  I'd really like to not fuss much with the plot until the remaining food plot acerage is done.  The plot in question still has big stumps in it.  I picked out the rocks good enough to run a lawn tractor on high setting without breaking it.  There are also a few large rocks the size of a loveseat I was too afraid to move with the tractor, but I am more comfortable with it's limits on hills now and can get them out of there.

 

I am shopping for a 6ft spring harrow for my 32hp Kubota.  I got a single row 3ft lawn tractor disc, a 2x14" plow with coulters, and a 7ft York rake at my disposal.  I know farmers use the spring harrows like discs, or drag one pass into existing fields to freshen them up, mix up fertilizer or lime in them, or to do a reseed, but keep the field going. 

 

I got a 2 bottom plow, but I am afraid to use it there.  Rocks and rocks and rocks........

 

I am on the fence about using herbicides.  I'll use them if needed, but like to keep it down to a minimum.  There is weeds, but not a weed problem that frequent mowing doesn't fix.

[tuckersdaddy]

as you get your soil pH corrected a lot of the weed will subside. if its just clover keep it mowed... add lime and fertilizer as needed and let it ride... unless you would like to plant other stuff. you can simply mow, overseed then run a cultipacker over it.

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[sampotter]

I clip mine the 1st time in June. Clover usually goes to seed before the weeds do, so the subsequent clips are done after the clover seed hardens, but before the weeds get that far. Natural reseeding. You can also spray the entire plot with glyphosate and the clover will be the lone survivor. It just needs to be established a couple of years 1st.

There's nothing wrong with a permanent clover plot. You won't have much luck in small woodland openings with anything else- just not enough sunlight.

[Chris B]

How low do you cut your clover plots down when you mow? I have about a half acre of ladino clover and I never really know how short to cut it. I also have a lot of weeds in my plot but didn't want to use herbicides if I could help it. From a distance, it just looks like a regular field. I planted it in may of 2012 and have frost seeded every april since. Also, how many times a year do you mow it? I mow it in early june and in late july.

[sampotter]

2-3 times mowing. You really only need to clip the top 2-3 inches off, but you can mow it almost to the dirt and it will still come back strong. Just don't do that now. If it gets frosted now without much new growth it will die.

[LET EM GROW]

after my brush hog rotted out, i used my zero turn with the deck all the way up (around 4.5"). worked just fine. but from what I have been told, ideal height is like 6-8", i believe..