Strut & Rut white spots
 

I checked my Strut & Rut food plot today. The good news is there were a lot of turkey sign, droppings about every 5-6 ft and some in the surrounding woods.

The bad news is there were 25-30 white spots about plate size in the plot. This plot is less than a quarter acre. Any idea what caused the white spots?

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

I don't understand - is it like a white powder on the leaves? Or - do you mean dead areas??

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

Dead and white leaves on the clover.

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

Its real hard to say for sure -

It sounds like - or similar to fertilizer burn. Some fungal diseases sound like this a bit too.- I've dealt with some of them but none quite like what you describe.

Here is a 2 links on Clover Disease Symptoms - a couple sound possible.

http://ss.ngri.affrc.go.jp/diseases/de36.htm


http://ss.ngri.affrc.go.jp/diseases/de35.htm

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

It looks a lot like Northern anthracnose in the link you posted. We have had a wet, icey & snowy couple of weeks. It's raining tonight and will turn to snow about morning and more of this is on the way Tuesday.

Is there anything I can do other than pray for dry weather?

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

It doesn't sound real good:

http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/diseases/series300/rpd303/

what kind of clover is in the mix?? If its crimson clover, its an annual anyhow, and will not come back next year. If it gets real bad you might want to think about over-seeding with alsike (apparently its immune) or another resistant strain of clover.

Sorry I cannot be of more help - the problem with a "mix" is unless you are good at identifying plant types - its difficult to know what is actually growing in the mix.

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

The description of the desease in your last link in your last message, doesn't sound like what I'm experiencing.

Most of what is dead is clover. I take a closer look the next time I'm on site.

I'll check to see if I still have the Strut & Rut tag.

Thanks for the info.

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

If the clover is alive it shouold be coming out of dormancy fairly quidkly. What type of soil do you have? did you do a soil sample? What type and how much fertilizer did you use?

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

The soil is red clay. I did not do a soil sample. I applied 10-11 bags of pelletized lime and three bags of 10-20-20. The plot is small, maybe 1200-1300 sqft. This was a wide spot in the road in a pine plantation.

We have had a very wet Jan. & Feb. And it's snowing now.

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

The three bags of fertilizer is it... fertilizer burn. Usually a bag of fertilizer is used on a lawn that is 2500 to 5000 sq./ft. That is if the bags are the normal 50 lbs. It would appear that you used enough fertilizer to do just about a 1/2 acre. ALWAYS do soil samples!!!

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

Thanks for the info.

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

One more question, how can this be a fertilizer burn problem and just now showing up?

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

Read the label on the fertilizer bag. The fertilizer dosen't go away quickly when it is poured out in the concentration that you spread. It can take a year for fertilizer to leech through the soil. At this time I would think your area is almost toxic... Just like trying to eat a fried turkey, prime rib, 10 bag of potatoes and all the trimmings in a day... Too much nutrient can be almost more of a problem than not enough. The seedling can burn up...

RE: Strut & Rut white spots
 

Yea, that makes sense.