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How do I maintain a low percentage of clover in my lawn?

8 years ago

How do I keep enough clover for it to provide the soil with some nitrogen, but prevent the clover from spreading everywhere?

I don't want to kill all my clover, due to the benefits clover brings my lawn. However, I don't want to have a full-clover lawn. I currently have a fescue lawn. There are some parts of the lawn where the clover is choking out the fescue, though.

I live in Durham, NC.

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Comments (5)

botanical_bill
8 years ago
I think you should kill off the clover, let the fescue fill in a bit but when the clover comes back let it grow.
dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
What is your normal watering schedule? How often do you water and for how long?

How high/low do you mow?

Is this Dutch white clover with the white bulb shaped flowers that attract lots of bees?

Do you over seed the fescue in the fall?
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yes, i fight it tooth and nail. i LOVE how it looks, but the problem is it grows so high and thick here that when you cut it you only knock the tops off it and leave the stalks, whether you cut it with a bushhog lawn tractor or pushmower, it always looks the same. when i cut the clover patch earlier inthe week the clover was higher than the top of my tire, yet the parts wehre there was no clvoer the grass was less than half that height! even the main yard part of my yard that has been cut a couple times alreayd the clover is ungodly high after only 6 days growth. if the winds are favorable this weekend, i will put out probably 100 gallons of roundup to kill it off. and yes, it will reseed itself very well. i have seen clover thru the summer in yards that are watered religiously via sprinklers. mine gets water religiously too, when God wants it to be watered he waters it for me. some people LOVE using clover for their yard. i and most other i know personally cannot stand it. but then again, i am in an area of the country that loves bermuda grass and most on here look at it as a weed! :)
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Buffalo grass and blue grama are often planted together and they are present together in many natural prairie settings, so if you're okay with a fairly late spring greenup and fairly early fall dormancy, they'd be a good choice. In an area with no irrigation, that's probably the best option for green during the summer. I've never seeded any buffalo grass (I've got allergies, so if I went with buffalo grass, I'd use plugs to get the female only varieties). I'm going to be doing a dormant seeding of blue grama in my hellstrips this year. I actually bought twice as much seed as I plan to use. The reason for that is that I'm not sure whether the dormant seeding will work (it works great for cool season natives, but I've never done it with a warm season grass). So I want the option of seeding again next summer. Since I'm doing this in such a small part of the lawn, I'll be able to hand water. My approach to dormant seeding is to wait until just before the first good snow storm. I was out last year spreading seed while it was snowing. The main thing is that you want to make sure it's cold enough that the seeds won't start to germinate this year but will wait until spring. I found one article that recommends against dormant seeding buffalo grass. I'll have to find seeding rates. If you call Southwest Seed (970-565-8722) and explain whet you're doing, they'd be better able to answer you on that. I haven't read much about buffalo grass in a long time because I dismissed it as an option for my lawn, but I started reading up on it again as a result of this thread and I think I'd advise against it in your case. I think that you'll be happier with blue grama than with buffalo grass. Buffalo grass does better with heavier/clay soils than with sand. Blue grama does well in both. If you want to mix in another grass, I'd go with western wheatgrass. It's a cool season grass, but it likes things a little warmer than streambank or thickspike, so it'll blend better with blue grama. You will want to spread these seeds separately. Blue grama seeds are like dust. Buffalo grass seeds are almost as big as peas. wheatgrass seeds are about the size of wheat kernels. I don't have any suggestions for buffalo grass varieties. For blue grama, I think I'd go with Hachita or Alma (but ask when you call). I think your best bets for western wheatgrass would be Arriba or Rosana, but ask at SW seeds to be sure.
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User
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
> What is your normal watering schedule? How often do you water and for how long?

In the warmer months, I water once per week. I generally water 1/2" to 1".

> How high/low do you mow?

I mow to 3 1/2" in the warmer months. I mowed down to 2 1/2" the other week, thinking that would be my last mowing of the season.

> Is this Dutch white clover with the white bulb shaped flowers that attract lots of bees?

I believe so.

> Do you over seed the fescue in the fall?

Yes.
User
8 years ago
It can be very difficult to hit a target amount of clover in the lawn. I wouldn't mind some, but it's not in the cards...the lawn chokes out any invaders.

One thing you can do is feed properly. If synthetic, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and October first, then winterize when growth stops but the lawn's still green (probably early December in NC, but that's going to vary). The nitrogen hands the advantage to the grasses and, with overseeding, should slowly increase the grass' dominance. Organic feeding schedule differ a bit--May 1, August 1, September 1, (optional) October 1, and then winterize.

Theoretically, for larger areas, wiping the deck with Round Up and reseeding the fescue with a measured amount of Dutch clover would work. That's also a LOT of work, very annoying, and means you have to restart sections of perfectly acceptable grass.

Proper watering--which you're pretty close to--will also help hand the advantage to the lawn. Clover is more drought-tolerant than any lawn, so watering enough to keep the grass happy is critical.

For existing grasses, mow long as well. 3" at minimum is best, both to shadow out any excess clover (and other weeds) and to make the grass a little less water demanding.

If you do all that and still can't get any control over the situation, soil test with Logan Labs. It could very well be that there's a resource shortage (extremely common) that's limiting the health of the lawn.
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Of course if you need to spray for weeds all the clover is gone, so it kind of interferes with weed control. Crabgrass is a major issue here in NC and so I don't think you're going to be able to maintain a clover population while simultaneously keeping weeds out. Folks further up north may be able to maintain a green lawn through the summer and crowd out weeds, not the case here.

Edit: I understand the romantic notion of letting the clover add some nitrogen naturally, but proper weed control is more important. Also nitrogen is cheap.

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