sparky357

I live in the southeast part of South Carolina known as the Low Country. Anyone use the Imperial Whitetail clover??? If you did, how long did it last for you???? I am thinking about using a hand spread/seeder but want to make sure I get one that will efficiently broadcast these small seeds. Any suggestions on a seeder. Also anyone use Tecomate Max Attract???? Any inputs would be greatly appreciated.LOLand have a good year.

drs1961

We've tried it in Calhoun county and it lasted 2 years. It has to have lots of moisture which we don't have. We just had one corner of a field that stayed damp during the summer. It also does better with highph which we don't have either. It took lots of lime to raise the soil ph to 6. Deer vetch liked that spot also. For now we're justplanting soybeans followed by oats and greens. If we get some type of irrigation, we might try it again. Good Luck

nchawkeye

Sparky...I have planted clover for about 6 years, most of my plots last 4 years or so before I start over, usually because of other weeds coming in, I don't replant until the clover is about 30-40% of the entire plot...

I have planted both Imperial and White Ladino clover from Southern States, usually plant half on one side and half on the other...I have found that the deer in eastern NC prefer the White Ladino to the Imperial...

I have used the small green spreader that you can get from Lowes Hardware (I think its made by Ortho), I modified mine with a dremal tool to put small teeth in the plastic gate, this way I set in the 1 position to meter the seed...I have also bought a pound of sand box sand from Lowes and mixed 4-5 pounds of clover with that and spread with a ATV spreader...4-5 pounds of clover will cover a one acre plot...Do not disc the clover in, just spread on the plot...

For a fall plot, I fertilize and lime, disc in, plant 50 pounds of wheat and disc the wheat in to cover with about an inch of soil, then run a culterpacker or an aerator filled with water over to pack the soil and then plant the clover....This is very important because if the land is too soft the clover will get covered too deep and you will not get a good even stand of clover....If you don't have a culterpacker then plant the wheat, wait until you get a good rain to settle the soil and come back and plant the clover later.

As a rule of thumb, I use 500 pounds of lime and 150 pounds of triple 19 per acre, technically you should take a soil sample, but these are farms I have owned about 30 years, so I don't bother with a sample...

sparky357

Thanks for the great info guys