Right now can be a crucial part of the year for clover food plots. Without the proper care and attention during the months of June and July is when your clover plots can be lost. Broadleaf weeds can begin to compete along with many grasses that may start to come into the stand. This is especially true for first year clover plots. How to manage them may sound difficult but is really quite simple.
To combat the broadleaves in the plot you simply must now the plot off. The clover will grow back quickly and many of the other broadleaves encroaching into the stand will take some time to come back from being mowed off. This is where the clover should grow back fast enough to out-compete the weeds by shading them out. Grasses however cannot be managed through mowing.
The best way to combat the grasses that may start choking out your clover plots is with herbicide. In the picture above you can see that grass that has started encroaching this small kill plot on one of my clients properties. I first mowed the plot off knowing there was grass coming into it. However there were also broadleaves coming and the mowing took care of them. About 2 weeks after mowing I came back in and sprayed this plot with a grass selective herbicide. In this case I used Targa, which I had leftover from spraying bean plots for volunteer corn. Select would be another great choice. Any chemical that is for the use of killing grasses and not broadleaves will work. As you can see in the picture, after a few days the grass is turning a yellow color and with a closer look much of it is starting to get brown spots on the blades. Hopefully this one spraying will do the job.
On this particular plot I may do one more mowing after the grass is dead. I will just monitor the plot for broadleaf competition. At the time of spraying the plot I also fertilized the plot. Now is a good time to fertilize them as well. I got it done right before a good rain so the fertilizer should have done a great job. For best results with fertilizer make sure you take soil samples to determine the correct rates of each nutrient you need to get the best results out of your plots.
Remember to manage today for a better tomorrow!
Brett Kleinschmit
To combat the broadleaves in the plot you simply must now the plot off. The clover will grow back quickly and many of the other broadleaves encroaching into the stand will take some time to come back from being mowed off. This is where the clover should grow back fast enough to out-compete the weeds by shading them out. Grasses however cannot be managed through mowing.
The best way to combat the grasses that may start choking out your clover plots is with herbicide. In the picture above you can see that grass that has started encroaching this small kill plot on one of my clients properties. I first mowed the plot off knowing there was grass coming into it. However there were also broadleaves coming and the mowing took care of them. About 2 weeks after mowing I came back in and sprayed this plot with a grass selective herbicide. In this case I used Targa, which I had leftover from spraying bean plots for volunteer corn. Select would be another great choice. Any chemical that is for the use of killing grasses and not broadleaves will work. As you can see in the picture, after a few days the grass is turning a yellow color and with a closer look much of it is starting to get brown spots on the blades. Hopefully this one spraying will do the job.
On this particular plot I may do one more mowing after the grass is dead. I will just monitor the plot for broadleaf competition. At the time of spraying the plot I also fertilized the plot. Now is a good time to fertilize them as well. I got it done right before a good rain so the fertilizer should have done a great job. For best results with fertilizer make sure you take soil samples to determine the correct rates of each nutrient you need to get the best results out of your plots.
Remember to manage today for a better tomorrow!
Brett Kleinschmit
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