Now is the time

If you are thinking of planting a fall clover plot, now is the time. I am heading to the farm this weekend to replant 3 existing clover plots that have just simply run their coarse, 4-5 years old. When I plant a fall clover plot, and that is the only way I plant them, I disc/till up the soil, broadcast 50-75lbs per acre winter rye seed, cultipack it, then broadcast 6lbs per acre of ladino clover see and cultipack again. This way the rye pops up quickly for a fall browse and next spring it pops up quickly and protects the clover. Once the rye matures next summer I mow it down to reveal a beautiful lush clover plot. Good for 4-5 more years.

Was thinking of doing the same thing this weekend

Ok, after an epic fail on a clover plot last fall, I’m now fall clover gun shy.

I planted clover last year on the 7th of September. I sprayed down the whole plot with gly and got a good kill. I planted my own clover blend with a nurse crop of oats.

Everything came up fine, it looked great last fall. We got good rain, etc. Looked great.

This spring when things greened up, it looked thin. By early summer, it looked awful and it was full of weeds. I would estimate that 60% of the clover that had been there last fall, had failed to emerge this spring.

I replanted this plot back in late July and it now looks awesome.

What could have gone wrong? Is now a good time but September 7th too late? Too much late snow, too little early snow????

I have another plot to redo, but I’m in a holding pattern because it’s dry now and unless we get some rain, should I even try it? I’m 90% sure I’m just going to cover crop this plot with rye and then spray and plant clover in the spring.

Grouse

Ive recently mowed some small acreage (half acre areas) have disc, sprayer, drag. Is a combo of winter wheat and winter peas too late. Western WI. Any other ideas? Just something for winter.

I can replant these areas next year. Not a big deal. Thanks.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Ok, after an epic fail on a clover plot last fall, I’m now fall clover gun shy.

I planted clover last year on the 7th of September. I sprayed down the whole plot with gly and got a good kill. I planted my own clover blend with a nurse crop of oats.

Everything came up fine, it looked great last fall. We got good rain, etc. Looked great.

This spring when things greened up, it looked thin. By early summer, it looked awful and it was full of weeds. I would estimate that 60% of the clover that had been there last fall, had failed to emerge this spring.

I replanted this plot back in late July and it now looks awesome.

What could have gone wrong? Is now a good time but September 7th too late? Too much late snow, too little early snow????

I have another plot to redo, but I’m in a holding pattern because it’s dry now and unless we get some rain, should I even try it? I’m 90% sure I’m just going to cover crop this plot with rye and then spray and plant clover in the spring.

Grouse

I see you cover cropped with oats, do oats come back in the spring after winter? If not that is exactly your issue. Fall planted rye comes back with a vengeance in spring and not only hides the clover from browsers, but also weather. By the time the rye is mature the next summer the clover is fully established and ready to be on it’s own.

September 7th might be a little late, I try to get it in last week or two of August.

riverruns wrote:

Ive recently mowed some small acreage (half acre areas) have disc, sprayer, drag. Is a combo of winter wheat and winter peas too late. Western WI. Any other ideas? Just something for winter.

I can replant these areas next year. Not a big deal. Thanks.

Should be fine if you can get it in this weekend. Otherwise, I am not sure if the peas will have enough time.

Here is the rye and clover 2 weeks after planting with some very nice timely rains. A beautiful carpet of rye with the clover just stating to pop.

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This is the third time planting this plot this year, really sandy and nothing would take. I knew rye would grow and this rye clover mix will build some good soil.

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This pic is blurry, sorry but you can see the rye came in very nice in this plot also

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I cover cropped about 1.2 acres in rye last Friday 9/7. This was an old clover plot that had given its all and was ready for replacement. I killed it with roundup 4 weeks ago and sprayed it again 1 week ago to make sure I had the sedge grass killed.

I hope this is not too late, the soil was very damp as I had 5 inches of rain in the past 2 weeks, so here’s hoping it germinates fast. I really want this plot to grow.

Sticker, I broadcast rye into my Eagle Forage Soybean plot 2 weeks ago right before a 3 inch rain. I can’t see a single stalk of rye nor can I find much seed. What happened? Too wet with too little sunlight under those beans? Did the seeed all was into piles and then compete itself to death? Did the turkies find it all? At my plot up at the farm the beans are 28 inches high on average.

Grouse

I would have to guess to wet with too little sunlight, but I would think some on the edges would have germinated. That’s goofy cause rye will grow on concrete is you get it wet, but with your low land soils and 3″ of rain that might have drown it.

The deer are really liking my new rye/clover plot. Over 2800 pictures in a week.

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The rye I planted on 9/7 is now about 3 inches high, so it wasn’t too late to plant.

I think I should have gone a little heavier on seed, however. I went with 90 pounds per acre and I think I could have gone up to even 120 pounds per acre. I guess no big loss, this is just a cover crop to replant that plot in clover next year. I want to really blast the weeds in this plot before I replant clover and start with a very clean seedbed. That seems to me to be the key to keeping our dreaded sedge at bay, don’t start the plot with any living weeds.

Grouse

They are browsing down the rye pretty good, but the clover is coming in strong.

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another plot

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