I plan on planting a clover/afalfa mix this spring. Once the soil sample comes back, I've limed, fertiilized, prepared the firm bed....then I'll be ready to seed.

Other than spending more money on seed, are there negatives to overseeding what the suggested amount per acre is? I want to see a field, lush and green with no or very limited bare spots.

Also I know it's good to mow the perennial plots twice a year or so on these types of plots depending on the amount of foraging, drought etc. When are the suggested times to mow? Time of year or plant height.

As always, thanks for all of your help.

I think is fairly safe to say that there are few disadvantages to putting out too much seed.

Some plants will outcompete others - and eventually, you will end up with a plot that is no thicker than what you would have ended up with if normally seeded. I know people that do this with good results - I think it tends to decrease bare spots.

if it says 3#of clover per acre, your best bet is to follow that recommendation fairly closely (maybe jump it a pound or 2). there is a "law of diminishing return" with seed (not sure if that is the right statement, but sounds good). at some point there is only so much seed that can actually germinate (say 4#) so once you start putting more down, it just can't physically grow, therefore you are wasting money. one thing with clover, however, is that it will stay in the seedbed for a long, long time and remain dormant until it has a chance to grow, so you could be theoretically seeding for future date when adding more seed than recommended. remember acouple pound of clover seed per acre doesn't sound like much, but...

870,000 seeds/# - Ladino clover = ~20 seeds/sq. ft. @ 1#/acre
275,000 seeds/# - red clover
800,000 seeds/# - white clover
375,000 seeds/# - trefoil
200,000 seeds/# - alfalfa

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On perrenials like clovers, I would be careful about overseeding the recomended amount by any large percentage. Overseeding by large amounts will cause competition for space, moisture, and nutrients which could result in weak stands. These weak stands may not make it through its first year if some type of weather stress occurs. Bare spots can always be reseeded by top dressing the seed in the winter/spring of the second year.

You threw me with the heading , because overseeding has it's own definition, you are referring to excessive seeding and it will not hurt to apply excessive seed . I have probably seeded a thousand lawns and the heavier the better,All the seed will not germinateso I would double the required amount, probably not necessary to do any more than that,that should fill in the bare spots and give good coverage.

I too was thrown off by the term 'overseeding'.

My own personal experience is you can easily put out too much corn or soybean seed; stay with the recommeded planting rates.

Also with rape I found out that too much is not a good thing. It was little seed so I broadcast a bunch of it.
It never came up very well, except on the edges where not much got planted. There the rape came up like a
bush (I'm talking belly high and you couldn't put your arms around it. Next year I will go much lighter.

Now with cereal grains I've yet to put out too much. Oats, rye and winter wheat that I plant in October get very heavy browsing by my deer. I'm sure it might be too much as a crop that a farmer would raise for money but for a deer food plot; the more the better is my experience.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for your info. You all addressed the 1st and 2nd part of the question...how about the third. The mowing. When do you guys suggest mowing the plots? I will take into consideration drought and etc.

Do you mow when the plant reaches a certain height or do you mow a certain time of year depending on drought and weather etc?

I ordered and just received the book "Grow "Em Right" by Neil and Craig Dougherty. It' seems like a great book thus far. Pretty soon, I will know everyhting and won't need any help from you guys.

Thanks again!!!!!!!!

Are you talking about clover?

If clover -

Then I mow when 2/3 of the plot is in blossom.

This is usually 3 times per year - Roughly : Memorial Day, 4th of July & Labor Day.

I use those dates as reference - because even I can remember them.

FH