The overgrown second spot I talked about got disced today. I went and asked a farmer down the road and he willingly came up and did it for me. The ground was pretty hard and all he had was a disc but after he went over it a bunch, it worked out really really well. There's some dead grass on it that didn't get tilled under that I probably need to take but all in all it turned out well. Now I just need to get the bigger plot on the other land opened up! I also still haven't made it to the Co-Op yet to get some seed. How many lbs of seed should I get if I wanted to plant a full acre and it be majority clover of a different variety. I'm thinking around 70% clover Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Depends on what kind of clover, most varieties will be around 10 pounds on the heavy side. Crimson clover is up to 23 pounds. I always go heavy on clover seed, doesn't hurt anything and it's cheap for small acreage.
The guys at the feed store should help you with the plot seed. Keep in mind the clover won't do much until next spring but you need to plant in the fall. Clove is a hard seed and needs to lay a while to germinate. The wheat/triticale, rye grass, turnips, radishes, chick peas, forage soybeans, vetch, cereal rye, forage oats, winter peas, etc.... I used the 7 card blend made by Evolve from Walmart. It contains Forage Oats, Forage Triticale, Winter Peas, Crimson Clover, Forage Turnip, Forage Chicory, Daikon Radish. I planted a whole bag on about a 1/8th of an acre.
Clover seed has a percentage of hard seed that can lay and come up for months but in general it shouldn't need to "lay awhile" to germinate. I planted 15 acres of mixed plot seed on 8/26-8/28 and most of the clover portion of it has been up since Sept 1st. At least here, fall planted clover has time to grow grazable forage even now. That's why it needs to have a nurse crop so it doesn't get grazed too hard going into winter.
Covey, Since I'm so late getting this planted, will my clover actually come back in the spring if I'm probably not able to mow it this fall? This is assuming the plots come up and everything grows. Also, here's kinda what I'm thinking for my plots. Combined, they're probably about 3/4 to 1 acre. These totals are to be divided amongst the plots. Tell me what you would change. White Ladino Clover 4lbs Crimson Clover 10lbs Rape 10lbs Winter Oats 1.5 bushels (that's the only way it's sold here) Would you add anything else to the mix or would you change the lbs of anything I have listed? My goal would be to have a nice stand of clover come spring that I can spray/mow then maybe overseed some rape or another fall plant. The overgrown spot I got disced yesterday will be expanded for next year but I simply ran out of time. The only thing I could see going heavier on seed with is maybe the clover but I thought I would ask for your opinion since I'm fairly green on this subject Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ended up getting 4lbs of Ladino, 5lbs Crimson, 5lbs red, 6lbs Dwarf Essex Rape and the 1.5 bushels of winter oats. May get a little more Crimson, but 5lbs is all they had. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sorry, I didn't see that post last night and I took out pretty early this morning and got back pretty late this evening. Any of those proportions would work okay. It shouldn't need mowing this fall. The clover should be fine next spring as long as it comes up okay this fall. The crimson clover will head out next spring and then it's done because it's an annual. The ladino and red clovers are short lived perennials so they would persist if you so choose to keep them there. I'm not sure if you want to take them out and plant something else there next year. If you get a good stand and it fills in nicely next spring, I'd be tempted to just leave them as nice clover plots.
Well, things went ok. The plot I thought would be the best and easiest isn't going to do well. The ground was so hard, the tractor mounted tiller struggled some and the guys didn't have time to make multiple passes. Some of it will come up for sure but it won't be great at all. Next year will be better. The second spot that I worked so hard to clear turned out the best by far. I'm excited to see how it does. Here it is I've since put. 3 strand wire fence up around it with a poly tape fence just inside of that. I've also seeded it. I ended up just putting Whitetail institute fusion and added oats on it. I seeded the first place super heavy since it wasn't tilled great and there was a lot of dead grass on top. I'll get a better picture of both places soon. Here's the spot that isn't going to do too well Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Is it possible to spray the one place again even though I've already broadcast seed on it? We haven't had any rain for it to actually germinate yet Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If the seed is not exposed and is not germinated (sprouted) you can get buy with another application of roundup (or generic). If it's just seed laying on top of worked soil then I wouldn't risk it. If the seed is just laying on top from broadcast, I'd be more inclined to work it again, very shallow.
If you can get some one to run a brillion roller or similar roller over the seed would help. The seed needs to have good soil contact. I wouldn't worry about spraying again right now.
I get that but I am worried about the existing grasses choking it out. I don't have a way to have it worked again really Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Most of the existing grass was probably summer or warm season grasses. Those will slow down growing with the cooler nights and will start to go dormant as the temps cool off. If the seed has good soil contact you will be fine. After the seed start to sprout and get a little growth (a few Inches tall) spread some 10-20-10 and it will be fine. Spraying again with RU could damage the exposed seed and then you will have wasted your money and time.
You'll probably be fine but if the grass turns into much of a problem then you can spray with clethodim. It'll take out the oats but it'd be an acceptable loss compared to the clovers. Or you can spray with roundup before emergence and take a chance on it hurting the germination.
