# Clover Lawn 2018



## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

I'm going to dedicate part of my lawn to just clover as a cover crop...

There now we have the shock out of the way on to my explanation; so as some of you will know I started a grow in 2017 it didn't go quite as planned due to reasons outside of my control, it is starting to look much better with a bit of TLC TLF Style.

Now the second problem is I am going to be away for six weeks over the summer and not able to tend to the lower part of the lawn this summer, so rather than leave it to the assorted weed seeds that float around all spring/summer and then Glyposate it when I get back I have decided to plant a crop of Dutch Microclover:



DLF Trifolium developed Microclover about ten years ago, as Clover is a legume and thus captures free atmospheric nitrogen and through a symbiotic relationship with natural microbes in the soil will store this nitrogen in nodules making it available to the plant and other neighbouring plants. In addition, clover roots and spreads quickly don't require fertilizer and provide a good cover crop protecting against the more invasive weeds. I can mow and compost the clover to create a high-N organic compost.










Worst case scenario, I glypo the lot and start afresh in the autumn with KBG, best case scenario and if I like the micro clover I till the clover under and end up high N organic matter in the soil and some clover mixed with KBG; or even just stick with the clover lawn.

I'm hoping by the end of the year I will understand a little more about Microclover and ways it can help me to reduce my input of nitrogen into the lawn, potentially augmenting my PRG or KBG mixes with 5% clover to do so. I will keep this thread updated as I go.

*Log*
11/05: Seed Down, keeping moist
12/05: 3mm of rain
13/05: Irrigate x2
14/05: Irrigate x2
15/05: *Green Babies *+ Irrigate x2
16/05: Save a few spots fairly even germination + Irrigate x5
17/05: Irrigate x2
18/05: Deep irrigation, throw down a little more seed where there hasn't been any germination.
19/05: Irrigate
20/05: Irrigate
21/05: Irrigate
22/05: 10mm of rain
23/05: 15mm of rain
24/05: 25mm of rain
25/05: Irrigate
26/05: Irrigate 
27/05: Irrigate, mow at 35mm to thin out the more mature plants, overseed some bare spots.
28/05: Deep irrigation
29/05: 8mm of rain
30/05: Irrigate
31/05: Irrigate
01/06: Irrigate
08/06: Applied some liquid iron as some of the plants were showing signs of chlorosis due to high pH.


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## GrassFarmer (Sep 21, 2017)

im sure it will grow good clover is a pretty hearty plant.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I was interested in this subject last year and found this website.

http://plantscience.psu.edu/reduce-runoff/questions-about-microclover


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

@g-man it's a good read, I'm assuming that my soil already has the relevant bacterium (i.e. _Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar. Trifolii_); as far as I can tell it will be fairly easy to allow the crop to establish, then dig up a couple and look at the nodules, in theory if I cut them in half and they are pink inside then the microculture is doing it's N-fixing job.


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## Sinclair (Jul 25, 2017)

I am interested in incorporating microclover into my backyard, but I haven't found enough in the way of real world trials to answer my questions.

If I maintain my turf all season at 3", will the clover be out of sight, or will some foliage and small flowers be evident?

I have a patch of regular clover mixed with KBG in the back yard and it stayed beautifully dark green all summer with zero additional water from me.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

DLFs claim is that Microclover is selectivly breed to be smaller than Dutch (White) Clover, from what i have found this means three things:

1 - the leaves are half the area of Microclover's native cousin,
2 - the growth habbit of the leaves is lower and subsequently the flower heads are lower, DLF state up to 8in - but i think that depends on the companion crop,
3 -it flowers less freqently.

From what i can tell there have been a couple of different itterations on Microclover from DLF which seems to confuse matters when searching for scientific trials. Im going to give it a try as a monostand as a cover crop, then maybe next year i will try as a companion 5% companion crop with KBG.

What i really want to do is buy a field and start my own trials, TLF Labs anyone?


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

The problem with clover is with weed control. There's no selective herbicide for clover, so you're going to end up with a salad sooner rather than later.


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## chrisben (Sep 11, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> The problem with clover is with weed control. There's no selective herbicide for clover, so you're going to end up with a salad sooner rather than later.


Weed-be-gon is fairly in-effective on the weed clover in my backyard, stunts it a little, but recovered in a week... Might be worth experimenting a little with light doses...


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## Miller_Low_Life (Apr 12, 2017)

I added micro clover to my overseed in the back year last fall. I really like seeing the clover this spring. It's not for everyone though.


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## Miller_Low_Life (Apr 12, 2017)

Sinclair said:


> I am interested in incorporating microclover into my backyard, but I haven't found enough in the way of real world trials to answer my questions.
> 
> If I maintain my turf all season at 3", will the clover be out of sight, or will some foliage and small flowers be evident?
> 
> I have a patch of regular clover mixed with KBG in the back yard and it stayed beautifully dark green all summer with zero additional water from me.


I added microclover to my backyard last year and keep my lawn at almost 4 inches. You can tell it's there. I haven't seen it flower yet though.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> The problem with clover is with weed control. There's no selective herbicide for clover, so you're going to end up with a salad sooner rather than later.


We don't have the same weed pressure in the UK, and homeowners don't have (legal) access to many weed killers. I'm basically limited to Glyphosate and 2,4D, mostly all I do is spot spray with 2,4D If there is a undesirable weed, if that doesn't get it I have a plug farm in the garden which I use to fill in the hole I create digging out the weed.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I have a cousin that has a clover lawn, he really likes it. Unfortunately I haven't seen it so I can't give any feedback. IMO it's more about a clean look than what it is.. I've seen some really nice moss yards! It's essentially a green carpet. So the clover seeded on purpose will look cool - be sure to post photos!


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

GrassDaddy said:


> I have a cousin that has a clover lawn, he really likes it. Unfortunately I haven't seen it so I can't give any feedback. IMO it's more about a clean look than what it is.. I've seen some really nice moss yards! It's essentially a green carpet. So the clover seeded on purpose will look cool - be sure to post photos!


Will do - new landscaping rake is delivered today to help me level the plot.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

Spent a good chunk of last week levelling the lawn with my new rake, spirit level, a length of 2x4 and builders cord.










Still got some work to go to get it even, but I've broken the back of it.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

Seed went down on Friday 11th, kept it moist with the spray head and there has been about 3mm of rain today, doesn't look to be any runoff.


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## probasestealer (Apr 19, 2018)

Great, interested to see this progress. Keep us updated


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> The problem with clover is with weed control. There's no selective herbicide for clover, so you're going to end up with a salad sooner rather than later.


Triclopyr works pretty well against clover, and so does Tenacity in some cases, so in the US at least, there are options. Hopefully they never take away our legal right to use herbicides. Imagine a country without Triclopyr, Tenacity, or even glyphosate. No thanks.

Now if you meant nothing safe to use on clover...that's a whole other issue. I'd be inclined to spot spray 2,4-D in that case. Or in the US, maybe take the risk with a single Triclopyr app if I absolutely had to.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

We've had a five-year reprieve from the EU on Glyphosate, there is a substantial lobbyist movement within the EU to ban it unilaterally, theoretically, this would only apply to food production but it would likely impact homeowner use as well. As a homeowner Tenacity (Mesotrione) and Triclopyr are heavily regulated, conceivably it would be possible for me to get a licence to use them on my lawn, however, I would need to obtain training and a certificate at the cost of about £1,000 (US $1,350).

Why do I say all of this... the UK is not far of being that place where you don't legally have the right to use latest generation herbicides as a homeowner.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Maybe things will get better once Brexit is finalized Richard.


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## FuzzeWuzze (Aug 25, 2017)

Interested in seeing how it ends up looking...

I know my local seed shop Protimelawnseed sells microclover aand also has it in some of their mixes for rugged/park/heavy dog type turf and honestly the pictures they show it looks pretty damn good. Different, but good.

https://ptlawnseed.com/products/microclover

These types of eco lawns are obviously more popular out here with all the hipsters/hippies in Western Oregon which is why i think they sell it.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

Green babies!


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

:banana:


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

[media]https://youtu.be/V3L1HRizPyQ[/media]


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)




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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)




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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Awesome! I love when people do things different like this!


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

@Richard Slater update pics? Interesting to see how it filled in.


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

It filled in well, although in it's third year so many of the plants are looking scrappy now. I've actually dug up a half meter by two meter stretch of it to grow salad and the soil is wonderfully rich, so even if you only use clover as a cover crop to crowd out weeds and nitrify the soil it's worth it.

Few of tips to anyone else wanting to have a clover lawn:


You need to mow it like a normal lawn, otherwise, it grows to about 5" in height, still smaller than wild varieties but not tiny in comparison.
In its second-year clover seems more susceptible to weed killers than in it's the first year, I had a bit of overspray of 2,4D from the KBG lawn which destroyed half a square meter of clover.
Each clover plant is only really viable for three years, so either let it go to seed once every 2-3 years or overseed.

On the basis of the viability of the plant beyond three years and the fact, I've killed some patches (first the 2,4D overspray, the second I had a persistent bramble that I nuked) I've reseeded the bare patches and overseeded with DLF Rivendel which promises to be even smaller than the DLF Pipolina I used three years back. I will try and remember to post back with the results once it matures:


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## zinger565 (Nov 28, 2017)

This is awesome. I've got a small side yard that is just poor conditions to growing grass. Between you and @Powhatan I've ordered some clover seed to get something in the ground.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Richard Slater what are you doing for maintenance? No nitrogen, right? What's the hoc?


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

This is great! I tried this at my cabin property and it didnt work out as well, so nice to see it succeed!


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

g-man said:


> @Richard Slater what are you doing for maintenance? No nitrogen, right? What's the hoc?


No nitrogen, no anything to be fair at most it's going to get a bit of sling from the other parts of the garden and it grows like nuts near the bird feeder because of the "extra fert". Clover is a robust plant so you can do pretty much whatever you want to it, the HOC is the same as my turfgrass lawns 2". I cut it as and when I want to, I left it uncut between the end of April and beginning of June to allow it to out-compete weeds, cut it back down to 2" this week and it's already springing back.


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## Sinclair (Jul 25, 2017)

This is really neat.

What is the bee situation like?

I don't imagine you'd want to walk barefoot while the clover is flowering!


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

Bees everywhere, but I also plant borage and have a strip of wildflowers down that part of the garden.

The biggest problem is unexpected snails, foot down, crunch, urgh. Bees are pretty good at detecting you near them and then shuffle out of the way soon enough.


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## SeanBB (Jul 11, 2020)

update needed!


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## Richard Slater (Aug 25, 2017)

Ok, so essentially what has happened is the Clover Lawn got converted to a vegetable patch during coronavirus; it will return to clover next year though


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