When should I start planting my clover. I have a small one acre clearing on top of a hill surrounded by 40 acres of oak. Should I lime it first then disc, or disc then lime? I was just going to plant white clover. Any thoughts?
I'd hold off a little on the clover. The only reason I say that is with our strange weather the odds of planting, getting germination then another freeze is a little too high for my liking right now.
I would personally start preparing your ground now. Spray, work it, wait for germination, spray again, work it, and so on as many times as you can until you plant. You would be fine as long as you get it in by the middle of march or so.
The reason I would spend as much time preparing your ground until then is that a spring planting of anything, clover for sure is succeptible to a bad weed problem if you don't do the work ahead of time to limit the chances. It's more work but it is definately worth the effort and you will see the results.
As for lime you could spread it at any time, I would get it on in the process of preparing the ground, then plant and fertilize in a month or so.
do a soil test that will help you know what you ground needs. You can take a sample to your local elevator and they normally dont charge for it. when doing that take from more than 1 area.
Thanks Hoytshooter, I'll start this weekend working the ground by spraying, discing and liming. Instead of fertilizer, I have a friend who boards about a dozen horses, she said I could come get all the pine shavings/ manure my truck and trailer could hold. I'll be shoveling a lot of *&^# this weekend, literally. Appreciate the help.
My .02 would be that depending on what you are planning to spray, if you spray and then disc it you are really defeating the whole purpose of spraying. Plus, with the weather right now you aren't going to kill much of anything and if by chance you are its only winter annuals which you can get later as well as the new spring germination. If you are using some type of residual herbicide good chance it won't be there when the weeds start germinating come april anyway.
So I should, spread my manure and lime, disc it in this weekend. Wait till mid march, spray, disc again. Then at the end of march seed my plot with my clover. By the thank you all for the help.
I would think that spreading your manure and lime and discing in this weekend would be a fine plan. I still don't know how much luck you will have later spraying then discing. Depending on what you are planting your clover into, spraying then disciing kinda just defeats the purpose as I mentioned earlier. B/c when you disc you will just most likely bring up new weed seeds for germination. Plus, this early your roundup just isn't going to do much killing b/c you don't have new weed germination yet and the weather just isn't that conducive for herbicide activity.
Maybe Rat will chime in...he's a Roundup man....roundup kills by going to the root of the plant....I think if you spray, and disc soon after, you are wasting your spray, which is not cheap!!!
Get a soil test while you are waiting for the results, throw down some lime and disc it in. I dont think there are too many places in missouri that you are going to over lime.
Wait for some green and then spray with some cheap roundup. I think I use some glystar (sp), its half as much as roundup. Everytime you disk you bring up new weeds, wait for them to come up and then spray again. YOu are trying to get rid of the seeds of the weeds and the weeds.
Clover in the spring competing with spring and summer weeds is tough.
Good luck, its all about learning and doing, to see what works for you, with what you have and where you are at.
1. Wait until spring, or first green up, and spray?
2. After spraying, 3 or 4 days, disc ground.
3. Wait until 2nd green up, and spray again.
4. Disc ground a second time.
5. If you're confident you've got most of the weeds sprayed, then seed your clover, etc....
I had a fairly bad weed problem in the fall, and I failed to cut the weeds before they went to seed. So, I'm sure I'll have a problem this spring if I don't spray?
What spray should I use? I have chicory, alfalfa and clovers.
You are more than likely wasting your time to spray roundup this time of the year. Plants are not actively growing or photosynthesizing in these cool temperatures.
You could do a pre-plant application of Rup in the spring but I would wait until you see active healthy growth of what you want to control for best results. If you frost seed your clover and try to use roundup in the spring, it will kill what clover has germinated also. Roundup is non-selective and very effective if applied correctly. It WILL NOT however, prevent any new plants from germinating no matter how many times someone has told you that. You can plant literally 1-2 days after an application of roundup and there will be no detrimental effects. Lotsa folks do this for turf renovation in the early fall..
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