Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

What is the best method? In my first two years of food plots I broad casted seed by hand but felt I was heavy in a lot of areas. Last year I used a push spreader for my biologic and felt this did a better job. But those small bags biologic sells says four of them will cover an acre. I used five bags on probably an eighth of an acre. Do I need to get over the fact/fear that I should be spreading it out even more?..........

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

Broadcasting is a good way to spread clover seed. If you let the clover head out, it will reseed itself and may fill in open areas, especially white clover. Not so much red clover though. I am not familiar with Biologic. You may want to look on the package and see what type of seeds it contains. You may have spread it on to thick and many of the plants will become choked out. Also, make sure you take a light drag over the area which you have seeded to get good soil contact with your seeds.

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

Yep, you need to get over the fear factor. I've spread alot of seed by a hand broadcaster and the biggest mistake you can make is to put to much on-you can run out quick.

Try putting it on too light. If you have some left-over you can always plant more. Clover barely looks like there is anything coming out.

I gave 5#'s to a friend of mine to plant 1/10 of an acre. I knew he'd use too much and I told my wife he'd be back. He's a stubborn 67 year old who a "kid" like me can't teach anything to, and he was back in a 1/2 hour-needed more seed! Didn't listen so I gave him 5#'s more-charged him $10 that time.

It's better to put on too little the first time, than too much the first time.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

You say broadcast it by hand, do you mean with flinging the seed from your hand or using a bradcast seeder. If you need a small broadcasr seeded you can get one for $10. at home depot . If you are alreadyu using try making your overlap a little farther and walk a little faster, see how this works out. I have seeded many lawns with a broadcast seeder and had to figure out the rhythm as to what worked best then I was ok with it.

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

The best method of planting in the smaller plots, less than 1 acre, is a hand spreader. Get the one that goes over the shoulder. They cost about $20.00 - $30.00 but are the only way for the small plots. In those types of spreaders, that is with a seed gate width of 6 inches or less, and seed like clover which is spread at a rate of about 8 - 12 lb an acre, open the gate about 1/8th inch... Walk at a fair pace. If you have seed left over you can always re walk the area. Spreading by hand is an art... It takes time to know your spreader... Try some sand for practice...... Weigh it at the same rate as the seed to be spread and work out. Drilling is best but is not practical for an acre or less, unless of course you have the equipment and the experience.

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

I used the hand spreader with the strap that go over the sholder. They work good but the gears wear out easy. you need to run a drag over it when your finished to cover the seed.

RE: Broadcasting small seed like clover......
 

We broadcasted our seeds by hand the first time, had thick spots and thin spots. We also didn't cover nearly as much area. The second time I borrowed a hand crank, over the shoulder, seed spreader. It did a very nice job, Seeds went farther, plots came in very even and thick. I probably wasted more seeds than the spreader cost when I spread by hand.

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[Deleted by Admins]

Clover seeding...
 

I mix ladino in with whitetail institute clover/chicory mix. I can't say one clover is better than the other but I can say that deer absolutely hammer the WT chicory. As for seeding it I use an ATV spreader (gemplers) which works well and can be controlled well for small seeds. Lastly, someone mentioned dragging over clover seed...I wouldn't as clover seed that gets buried more than the smallest amount (1/4 inch) won't germinate. Other seeds yes, but clover, no.

I mix the seed with some sand. That way you don't put it out too thick.

I just run over the small plots with my atv tires on small plots try of course to run over all area only takes a bit of time but really tamps down seed to soil

I have broad casted Clover by hand but ended up buying the Seed Spreader You hang on Your shoulder and crank to spread the seed out much better.

I've been using the Pennington Durana Clover and it is more hardy,drought resistant,does well in partial shade and with stands heavy browsing!

You could also mix your clover with some oats. That works well for me. Even though my land is a crop farm, I put some down in a pasture near my duck pond, (about 2 acres worth as a test area) and it worked.

I use an Moultrie ATV Spreader on several larger fields as well as a the over the shoulder Planters Bag when doing smaller plots. I use a 5' cultipacker to press the seed in that I can either pull behind me on the ATV or use the 3 pt. hitch method as it will go both ways. I prefer the atv method of packing because the tractor can press the seed in to deep. If I have tilled the area, I do a pass with the coutipacker before seeding and again afterwards. On one field I seeded with oats before the first cultipacking then sspread the clover and pulled over it agqain. Neighbor uses his drag harrow and then seedsand lets a rain cover the seed with the slightly loosened dirt.

I learnt years ago to spread seed and fertilizer at 50% suggested rate and do it 2 times. Learned this after running out half way through the 1st time.
I also use a cultipacker before sowing small seed then re-cultipack after sowing seed.
On large seed like oats I till, sow seed, run a drag across the sown seed. If seeding small seed like clover on top of the oats I cultipack after dragging, sow clover seed and re-cultipack.

For clover and rape, I used to use a Scotts Easy Hand Held manual spreader. However, the small seeds would get caught in the spinner plate and caused lots of trouble. I'd eventually break the gears or the handle.

Now I use a Scotts Wizz Spreader. It's battery powered and super easy to use. Has a very precise spread rate meter and it spreads small seeds like clover and handles larger seeds like wheat or oats great.

I simply hold it down by my side and walk my plots. For small seed like clover that's hard to see coming out, I hold my hand in front of the spinner to get a feel for how many are coming out.

I've found this spreader is much easier for me to use than the Earthway hand operated over the shoulder I used to use.

I would post URL's but I can't until I get 10 posts.

I used the Moultrie electric ATV seed spreader this year and I'm also impressed with the results.
On a plot of radish-turnip I set the seed flow at 50% and sowed it 2 times.My oats plot I did the same 50% and sowed it 2 times. It took about 2-3 minutes to sow 1 ac and not walking on the sore knees and hips.
I would buy the Moultrie ATV spreader again. At about $125 retail it's a great bargain but I bought mine at wholesale cost of $86 and my son even paid for that so was a great deal. LOL

we just use 1 bag of lime as a carrier and the tires of the 4-wheeler will press and cause good seed to soil contact

PLEASE share what kind, brand, and how you spread straight clover with ATV spreader... I have way to much to do it all by hand...

he postyed this over a year ago, so doubt he will reply
I personally use a hand spreader for clover, up to 3 acres at a time too, its WORK, but I get a better control over the seeds being spread as there so fine
I have used an atv mounter electric spreader for larger seeds and fertilizer, but woudn't use it for clover, seeds are too costly
if you have access to a Farmer near by that has a good seed drill for small seeds, they can maybe be hired to seed things if your planting LARGE area's
that or your going to be wasting a LOT of seeds by putting down too thick with a atv spreader IMO

If you have a muzzle loader, just put a small charge down the barrel followed by a wadded up piece of paper towel. Then fill the barrel with seed and let her rip. :biggrin: :party:

Like mrbb said, I feel as though clover seed is too small and expensive to use ATV. I use a hand spreader, figure out the area that should be covered by the amount in the spreader at the recommended application rate, and walk at a speed that equates to the spreader volume vs. area to be covered. It doesn't take much time to cover a significant amount of ground. If you are planting large acreage, over say five + acres, find a farmer with the appropriate equipment.

I sowed another 1.0 ac of clover on top of a WI oats cover crop with my Moultries ATV electric seed and I feel I wasted 0%. I set the seeder to sow at 50% ad sow it 2 times. This 1 ac of clover seeding took all of 10 minutes with my gold cart and Moultries seeder.

On the same day I sowed 1/2 ac of turnip-radish set at 50% and even doing it 2 times it took all of 5 minutes and no walking on my sore knees and hips.

how many LBS of clover seed did you

I sowed the recommended amount for 1.0 ac of 8 lbs. I set the electric seeder at a very small opening of about 50% from past experience and sow the seed 2 times. This time I did set the opening a little too small and had to seed the 1.0 ac 3 times. Not one wasted seed.

I've been seeding and spreading fertilizer at 50% for the last 5 yrs and never had a problem. The very 1st year I used the recommended seeding gauge opening on my hand seeder and ran out of seed before done. Six years ago when I started planting food plots I ran out of fertilizer 3/4 the way through the plots. That's also the reason I started using 50% and doing everything 2 times. It works for me.

well you must be the exception here, as I have been doing food plots since the late 80's was one of the whitetail institutes first guys in PA
I have always had the complete oppisite results with smnall seeds in a atv mounted spreader
I always use a bag spreader on plots up to 3 acres
and I typically planted 16 acres a food plots a yr for about 20+ yrs now
glad it works for you, but I do think your an exception to the rule over the norm with an atv spreader
hey what ever works, have at it!

I don't see any difference in adjusting a small opening on my hand seeder or adjusting a small opening on my electric ATV seeder for small seed like clover or radish-turnip. Maybe I should do a video on the adjustment. Not!

ATV spreader
 

Deleted by bocajnala. Posting off topic

ATV Spreader
 

I bought a seed spreader from Sportsman's Guide, mounted to the front rack of my ATV. I attached a sheet metal plate in the rectangular opening just above the metal slider. I drilled 10 or so 1/16th holes in the metal plate. This slows down the drop rate to the point I can use this spread for clover. Need to experiment with size and number of holes. I drilled out two pop rivets and used the holes to bolt the restrictor plate in place using number 8 bolts, such as you would use to mount an electrical outlet to the box. Start with minimum (10) holes, check seed rate and drill more if necessary. Use wingnuts on the # 8 bolts, if possible for easy changeout for coarser seeds such as oats. Works great for clover. Make 3 or four passes at a low spread rate so you don't overseed and run out. The clover seed is expensive if you use good quality seed.