Clover Seed on the Ground!
#11
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lexington NC USA
Posts: 459
Another month has gone by and I was able to get out and mow the clover again. I had put down 0-25-25 about 3 weeks ago. Not a ton of weeds but there are quite a few daisies out there. We had already got rain and more scheduled through at least Thursday so I felt like it would be a good time to cut it back again. I was really amazed at how thick it is now and lots of blooms. The deer aren't punishing it yet but they are definitely browsing it. Hopefully we will continue to get rain to help it get through the first year. So far weather conditions have been perfect. The first photo is before and the second is after the cut.
#12
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lexington NC USA
Posts: 459
Clover Update: The typical NC summer has taken it's toll on the clover. Very little rain in over a month now and temps in the 90's have it looking pretty rough. It's amazing how quickly it went south. This was one of my biggest fears with the spring germination not giving the clover enough time to develop a good root system. The good news is that rain is on the way and if the weatherman got it right this time we will get around 3 inches over the next week. Currently there is a lot of brown clover with a little green mixed in and a ton of seed so hopefully will come back and maybe reseed itself too. I'm really curious to see how much of it survives.
Last edited by Ballistictip; 07-20-2018 at 08:46 AM.
#13
I cant tell much by the pic, but it looks to me that the clover has seeded out which is why its browning, but again, I cant see the pic well. I wanted to to try Durana, but couldn't get any so I went with Whitetail Institute clover and couldn't be happier. Luckily its been storming here in Georgia a couple times a week all summer. If you haven't, Id start mowing lanes in the clover. Clover tends to be less palatable to deer this time of year and especially while seeding out. If you cut lanes in the clover, itll give you tender new growth, but while its growing back, they will still have the uncut lanes to browse on and if it goes to seed, then your reseeding at the same time. But Durana is good stuff, I wouldn't sweat it. good luck and keep us updated.
#14
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lexington NC USA
Posts: 459
Not sure why I couldn't post the image through Imgur like the previous photos??? It would only let me download straight from the computer and then downsized it to the point of barely being visible. Anyway, yes the seedheads are brown but a lot of the clover is too. We've probably got 1.5" of rain so far this week with more on the way. Hoping to see it spring back to life.
#16
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lexington NC USA
Posts: 459
Thanks!!! Now that we're getting plenty of rain the clover has really come on strong since the July photo. On October 8th I cut it back to 5" and dropped some 0-25-25 to give it a little boost going into fall. Since this turned into a spring germination I'm really surprised at how well it did making it through the drought this summer. Looking forward to next year since both Durana and Patriot tend to do much better in their second year.
On a side note, I've been using my trimmer with a brush blade to cut it. Talk about time consuming and work intensive!!! Done this 3 times so far and generally takes over 3 hours to do it. The last cut I actually used my commercial zero turn mower. Much much faster and far less user fatigue!! The downside however is I spent over an hour cleaning out the deck and removed 2 five gallon buckets full of finely ground clover from the underside of the deck. Huge mess!! Below is the before and after photo from the mow. Haven't had time to get back out there but I suspect with the cooler weather and rain we've had it's going like gang busters!
On a side note, I've been using my trimmer with a brush blade to cut it. Talk about time consuming and work intensive!!! Done this 3 times so far and generally takes over 3 hours to do it. The last cut I actually used my commercial zero turn mower. Much much faster and far less user fatigue!! The downside however is I spent over an hour cleaning out the deck and removed 2 five gallon buckets full of finely ground clover from the underside of the deck. Huge mess!! Below is the before and after photo from the mow. Haven't had time to get back out there but I suspect with the cooler weather and rain we've had it's going like gang busters!