QDMA Articles :
Clover 101
By: Kent Kammermeyer
Treestands, 4-wheelers, camouflage,
scents, rifles, and cartridges all seem really important tools
to help harvest a quality buck to the average deer hunter. One
of the most important deer management tools is often ignored,
downplayed, or totally left off the list - food plots.
Food plots not only facilitate the harvest of deer, but provide
highly attractive, highly nutritious forage for your deer population
- if you have chosen the right crop and planted it the right way.
Consider clover for your high-quality deer plot.
There is a clover variety for everyone in every corner of whitetail
country. Maybe you tried it three years ago and did not get a
stand. Maybe you lost a good stand in last year¹s drought.
Join the crowd. Many high-quality food plots bit the dust in the
past three drought years in the East. Maybe you are avoiding clover
because it is expensive or because you are confused by the multitude
of varieties available. Again, join the crowd. I have been dealing
with clovers on Georgia Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) and private
lands in northeast Georgia for over 25 years, and I get confused
at times, especially by new varieties, hyped advertising, or unsubstantiated
testimonials.
Let me make it clear right now that I am a wildlife biologist,
not a seed salesman.
Consequently, the rest of this article will not be devoted to
selling you a specific variety of clover seed for your food plots,
but to helping you determine how to establish a successful stand
of clover and what varieties have the best chance of providing
you with a productive, high-quality food plot. The choices can
be mind-boggling - red, white, ladino, crimson, arrowleaf, and
others. There are endless varieties available, but if you don't
choose the right ones for your region, and if
you don't take the time and effort to plant it correctly, then
you are setting yourself up for failure.
First, a short list of why you should plant clover for deer is
in order. I've heard it and you have too, "ryegrass is all
you need" or "turnips are the best choice." If
you believe it's this simple, you can stop reading now and go
practice on your grunt call. I'm here to tell you that you can
do better than this if you have a hunt club or property with limited
acreage for food plots, limited budget, equipment, and manpower.
Consider clover for the following reasons:
1. Lower nitrogen costs. All plants need nitrogen to grow, but
clover "fixes" its own from the atmosphere at the rate
of 50 to 200 pounds per acre, per year. The same amount applied
to grass by nitrogen fertilizer would cost $25 to $100 per acre,
per year.
2. Clovers have a higher forage quality than grasses. Clovers
have higher protein, digestibility, minerals, and vitamins.
3. Better distribution of growth by clovers can extend the grazing
season as compared with grasses alone.
4. Increased forage yield per acre from grass/clover mixes, or
pure clover is better than grass alone.
5. Most clovers are tried and true, having been tested at university
experiment stations all across the country. This is not the case
with many other deer forages on the market today.
I began researching and using clovers in the late 1970s. On northeast
Georgia WMAs, we had to have a productive, high-quality deer forage
to maximize our efforts on relatively small total acreage (less
than 0.3 percent of the land area) in small fields with limited
manpower, equipment, and budgets.
As deer managers, we really needed help. No one in the deer management
business really had the agronomic background (they don't teach
that in forestry schools). So we got help from the best, Dr. Bill
Sell, head of Extension Agronomy at The University of Georgia
(UGA). Between his own Jackson County, Georgia farm and his extensive
experience across the state, we found our expert. What he told
us, with a few minor tweaks, still forms the backbone of our food-plot
system some 25 years late
r. Though retired, we still seek his advice often.
Dr. Sell's formula was successful for us and can work the same
for you. Group clovers into two categories, annuals (plants dying
in less than a year) and perennials (plants living for two or
more years). Chose perennials wherever possible. If not, use reseeding
annuals. Perennials work great in the North, annuals work great
in the Deep South, and both work in between. Choose the varieties
best suited to your soils, site, climate, and
limitations. Get help from your nearest agricultural extension
agent.
Let's take some time to get detailed step-by-step procedures
to establish a successful clover stand. It takes plenty of planning
and good execution:
1. Measure your field accurately to the nearest tenth of an acre.
Divide the plot into rectangles and measure the length and width
by pacing, rangefinder, or GPS. Length x width = area (in square
feet), then divide your total by 43,560 (the number of square
feet in an acre). Eyeballing acreage will get you in trouble and
waste your money.
2. Get a soil test. Don¹t guess at it. Follow recommendations
for limeand fertilizer as indicated on the test.
3. Many of you will need two or more tons of lime per acre to
raise your soil pH to 6.0 and above. Do it all at once, not in
500 pound increments, three to six months before planting, if
possible. Obviously, a lime spreader truck is much cheaper and
easier, if you can get it to your plot without getting stuck.
4. Do a good job of ground preparation. Plow or disc repeatedly
to get a weed-free, soft seedbed four to six inches deep.
5. On planting day, inoculate your clover seed with the correct
inoculant as described on the package. If you bought pre-inoculated
clover, don't let it get too hot or too cold before planting.
Remember that inoculant is a live bacteria which helps clover
roots "fix" nitrogen from the air.
6. Spread the recommended amount of fertilizer and seed. If you
mix it together in a fertilizer spreader, then do so on the edge
of the field and don't let it sit in the hopper for long. It is
best to set your spreader conservatively to go over the field
at least twice to compensate for any mixing errors.
7. Cover lightly with smoothing harrows, drag, or cultipacker.
Do not cover clover seed more than 1/4-inch deep.
8. Pray for rain. Actually, smart farmers time their planting
to precede a forecasted rain whenever possible.
9. Watch it grow!
With the clover planting techniques outlined above, we now can
concentrate on which clovers to plant. Basically, the farther
south you go and the sandier the soil, the more your climate is
adapted to growing annual clovers (Table 1). The farther north
you go (all the way to Canada), the more your climate is suited
to grow perennials (Table 2). There is a lot of overlap somewhere
in between, depending on soils, weather, weeds, and diseases.
This is not a hard and fast rule, as some perennials can do well
in Florida or Louisiana on the right soils (sandy loam or loam)
and weather conditions (lack of severe drought). In north Georgia,
we use both depending on the situation and application.
All things being equal, I would always plant a perennial clover
over an annual clover, which must reproduce from seed every year.
The reasons are obvious - you don't have to plant your food plot
every year, just once every two to five years. Conditions where
annual clovers are the most appropriate choice for you are deep,
sandy soils, severe droughts, severe weed problems,
or low pH.
Annual Clovers
There are two outstanding annual clovers that are tried and true
in the South. These are Yuchi Arrowleaf and Dixie Crimson. Both
can be excellent reseeders under certain conditions.
Yuchi Arrowleaf is the latest maturing annual clover with growth
into mid-June or later under good moisture conditions. It has
good reseeding potential, but seedling growth is slow because
of small seed size. Early planting in fall enhances stand establishment.
Arrowleaf does best on sandy loam but will grow in any soil. Once
a seed crop is produced, light discing in late summer can re-establish
a good stand. Arrowleaf leaves and stems maintain higher protein
for longer periods than Crimson.
Dixie Crimson is adapted to most well drained soils. It has excellent
seedling vigor and the best early forage production of the annual
clovers. Crimson is the earliest maturing clover, maturing in
April, which can make it very useful in a rotation with corn,
millet, or grain sorghum. Unlike red or white clovers, it has
no warm season value to deer. Crimson is the clover commonly seen
blooming in April on the interstate medians in the South. On clay
soil, crimson should reseed itself without discing for several
years. It may require a light discing in late August.
Other annual clovers useful in the South include Alyce (not to
be confused with perennial Alice white), Ball, Berseem, Rose,
and Subterranean. Each may have a specialized use but generally
do not produce as consistently well as Crimson or Arrowleaf.
Perennial Clovers
Undoubtedly, it can be a huge advantage to plant perennial clovers
on hunting land whenever possible. Labor, equipment, and seed
costs go way down if your food plot is productive without replanting
for two or more years. Perennial clovers may require one or two
summer mowings to help suppress weed competition. Annual application
of a zero nitrogen fertilizer (e.g., 0-10-20) in September will
ensure a healthy, productive stand in year two and thereafter.
There are three general categories of perennial clovers - red,
white, and alsike.
Red clover is a biennial (two years) in the mid-South or weak
perennial in the North. It acts as an annual in the Deep South.
It does best on well-drained loam and clay. Spring growth begins
later than annual clovers. Seedling vigor is better than any other
clover, and it is well suited for seeding into dormant grasses
in late winter using a no-till drill or frost seeding techniques.
Red clover provides more grazing than ladino clover during summer
but, unlike ladino, red clover will not tolerate continuous, close
grazing over long periods of time. Many diseases attack red clover,
but disease resistant varieties are available. Check with an agricultural
extension agent for varieties adapted to your climate and disease
complex.
White clovers can be long-lived perennials and also excellent
reseeders. They are very leafy plants that spread by runners and
form shallow roots at the nodes. Leaves are hairless and usually
marked with a white "V." Small or
intermediate types of white clover (White Dutch, Louisiana S-1)
can be expected to reseed naturally, while giant or ladino types
usually do not reseed well in the South. White clovers are adapted
to all regions of the eastern and mid-western U.S., but act as
annuals on sandy soils of the Deep South. They are best adapted
to loams, clay soils, and bottomland soils. White clover is notproductive
on "droughty" soils but will survive considerable dry
weather. It grows well in association with cool season perennial
grasses and with dallisgrass, but generally not with bermudagrass
or bahiagrass. White clover is vulnerable to a number of leaf
and root diseases. Viral diseases can be the most serious problem
in the long run.
Osceola, Regal, California, and Advantage are highly-productive,
widely-adapted ladino clovers. By comparison, white Dutch produces
about one ton of forage per year versus up to five tons for the
highly productive ladinos. Louisiana S-1 is a persistent, intermediate
non-ladino clover that is more productive than White Dutch.
Alsike clover is a semi-erect, weak perennial clover available
in the North that can be planted in spring (March-May) or August.
It does best in a cool climate or wet soils and is tolerant of
more acidity than most clovers. Other white clover varieties which
need more testing in various parts of the country include Tillman
II, Kopu, Pitau, Tahora, Arcadia, Tripoli, Alice, Barbian, and
Southern. Many of these are newly imported from New
Zealand and remain somewhat questionable whether or not they are
adapted to the climate, viruses, and diseases found in the U.S.
Mix and Match
Having described the strong and weak points of clovers, it¹s
time to go where the rubber meets the road. Your best clover strategy
will probably be a mixture of clovers and grasses to combine the
best qualities of each. In the North and mid-South, for a fall
mix, many folks have had great success with a mix of Osceola or
Regal ladino (5 lbs per acre), Redland III or
Cinnamon Plus (10 lbs per acre) and wheat (50 lbs per acre). With
acid soil or bad weed problems (fescue, bermudagrass, bahiagrass,
crabgrass, or johnsongrass), use an annual mix planted in February
or March with red (10 lbs per acre), arrowleaf (10 lbs per acre),
and Arkansas oats (50 lbs per acre), especially if you can mow
in August and disc lightly in September to encourage reseeding
for a second year. In the Deep South, plant Crimson (10 lbs per
acre), arrowleaf (10 lbs per acre), and oats (50 lbs per acre)
in October. The same mowing and discing applies.
A word of caution, when at the sportsman shows or the seed store,
don't buy the bag of premixed seed just because it has a big buck
picture on it. Be wary of mixes that don't reveal what is in the
bag. Read the label! In most states, seed vendors are required
by law to clearly identify what seed varieties and proportions
are in the bag. They are required to identify noxious weeds and
they must use plain English descriptions -not scientific names
like Trifolium (clovers) or Brassica (turnips).
There are good mixes and bad ones. Compare varieties in this article
and look for proven variety names on the tag of the bag. Watch
out for mixeswith the "kitchen sink" thrown in. Five
or 10 seed varieties, some tall, some short, some cool season,
some warm season are thrown together to sell you seed, not make
a successful, economical food plot.
Finally, whether you mix your own or buy a mix, make sure that
the percentage of grass is kept low enough to keep the grass from
shading out the clovers. The same is true of acreage, if you double
the seed mix on your acreage or overestimate your actual acreage,
you also double the grass rate per acre which will choke out the
clover. The grass is there for quick forage, a nurse crop for
the clover, and to produce a seed crop later on. It's there to
help the clover, not outcompete it. Ladies and Gentlemen, start
your clover stands!
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