Clover Lawns

[Ben]

Does anyone here have a clover or clover/grass mixed lawn? I've been reading a good bit about it, and before clover became a "lawn weed", it was apparently hard to find any lawn seed mix that didn't contain it.

I've been filling bare patches in my pastures with clover, which led me to looking at it for around the house. I have WAY too much lawn. I've already let some die in front, and am going to do some kind of xeriscaping there. My "backyard" is like an acre where the previous owners let weeds take over the lawn portion, and did nothing on the rest. Last year I just tried to control the weeds on the lawn and I let the rest go natural and just hit it with the brush hog a few times over the Summer.

This year, I'm looking at making the back lawn no more than 500 sq ft next to my patio and mixing clover there, then just putting a boatload of clover over the rest. Clover is supposed to kick the *expletive deleted*it out of other weeds, and the ground cover is only a half foot high at most. Plus it is supposed to really nitrogen load the ground naturally and also the flowers are beneficial to insects like bees. Also pretty much doesn't need to be watered. If it works out well in the back, next year I might mix some clover into the front lawn as well.

It seems like there are a lot of pluses for clover or clover/grass around the house, and for most people I guess it's getting past the look of a broadleaf mixed in with their turf. Just wondering if anyone here has tried it?

[brimic]

My last house inadvertently had a clover lawn. I put down the topsoil an seeded it myself- the clover cane from the hay/straw I put down over the seeds.
It didn’t look as nice as the neighbors lawns for years.
It did eventually thicken up and lol pretty good.

My current lawn could be described as a creeping Charlie lawn

[K Frame]

WHY ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT A LAWN WHEN THE CORONA IS GOING TO KILL US ALL??!!!!!!


That said, if you actually, you know, survive the flu, the hoards of cannibals who feast on the survivors, and the rise of the killer cats , there's a good dsicussion here... https://dengarden.com/gardening/Clover-Lawns

[Ben]

WHY ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT A LAWN WHEN THE CORONA IS GOING TO KILL US ALL??!!!!!!


That said, if you actually, you know, survive the flu, the hoards of cannibals who feast on the survivors, and the rise of the killer cats , there's a good dsicussion here... https://dengarden.com/gardening/Clover-Lawns

Hey, priorities my man. If the rain stops this morning, I'm also gonna fire up the grill for the first time this season and grill up some apocalypse tri-tip and drink SHTF whiskey on the back porch. 

That was one of the articles I read. If I lived in a subdivision with neighbors lawns connected to mine,  I wouldn't consider this out of politeness to all the Hank Hills in the neighborhood. I don't have any "contamination" issues to worry about here, and I like the idea of the mix as a wildlife attractor as well. Last year the "weed patch" in back brought in pheasants, turkeys, and all kinds of stuff. But part of that patch included goatsheads, which I have learned to hate (never ran into them in CA) and they're one of the things clover is supposed to outperform. I'm about for sure I'll spread some in the back, and if I like it, I might do a 25% mix on the front lawn as well. The very low maintenance is also a big factor for a lazy guy like me. :)

[Fly320s]

Hey, priorities my man. If the rain stops this morning, I'm also gonna fire up the grill for the first time this season and grill up some apocalypse tri-tip and drink SHTF whiskey on the back porch. 

What time should I be there?  And do you prefer ammo or TP?

As for the clover lawn, I have one area in my front lawn that has a dense patch of clover.  That stuff grows so fast and thick that it is a pain to cut.

[HankB]

Clover has been taking over one section of my front lawn for a couple of years now - I have a hunch in 2020 it will finally be victorious.

My clover LAUGHS at weedkillers like Weed-B-Gone; WBG used to work really well, but either weeds have toughened up or Ortho has neutered the formula for what used to be a primo weed killer.

Detcord will only scatter it, and I think the local constabulary would take a dim view of my using napalm or nuking it from orbit.

[French G.]

My lawn is green. I have a lot of dandelion, a lot of plantain, and a lot of clover. I am overseeding or hitting bare patches with white clover. I mow around the clover when it is flowering. Why? I have chickens and bees and they eat the stuff. In the winter I usually let the grass go long from the last mowing and my yard is thick with deer after the plantain especially while all around me forage is decimated by either livestock or chemical lawn people. All grass perfect lawns suck for the environment, consume resources and feed nothing.

[BobR]

Hey, priorities my man. If the rain stops this morning, I'm also gonna fire up the grill for the first time this season and grill up some apocalypse tri-tip and drink SHTF whiskey on the back porch. 

Ben....Ben.....Ben, you aren't in California anymore, there is no "season" to grill. You are in the land of the free, you can grill any damn time you want and CARB be damned!!!

bob

[Ben]

Ben....Ben.....Ben, you aren't in California anymore, there is no "season" to grill. You are in the land of the free, you can grill any damn time you want and CARB be damned!!!

bob

 

Well it wasn't grilling, but if it counts,  I burned about a 20'x20' by 10' high pile of brush last week after dousing it with 5 gallons of diesel. :)

[RoadKingLarry]

Well it wasn't grilling, but if it counts,  I burned about a 20'x20' by 10' high pile of brush last week after dousing it with 5 gallons of diesel. :)

That's kind of expensive fire starter.
I'm happy to start small and let nature takes it's course assisted by a gallon or two of used motor oil.

[Ben]

That's kind of expensive fire starter.
I'm happy to start small and let nature takes it's course assisted by a gallon or two of used motor oil.

A good bit of it was green and I didn't want to dink around. $15 is a small price to pay for a glorious carbon plume. 

I finally bought a blowtorch this morning though, so for the next couple of piles I have lined up I'm using a little less fuel and letting the torch get stuff going.

[zxcvbob]

Clover has been taking over one section of my front lawn for a couple of years now - I have a hunch in 2020 it will finally be victorious.

My clover LAUGHS at weedkillers like Weed-B-Gone; WBG used to work really well, but either weeds have toughened up or Ortho has neutered the formula for what used to be a primo weed killer.

Detcord will only scatter it, and I think the local constabulary would take a dim view of my using napalm or nuking it from orbit.

If you really want to kill it, https://www.amazon.com/Agri-Star-Triclopyr-Herbicide-Gallon/dp/B004S70RK4  (you might can find it cheaper elsewhere)  I can't remember for sure the dilution rate for lawn weeds, but I think it's 1/8 oz (3/4 tsp) per gallon.  I use the stuff on creeping charlie.

[cordex]

A good bit of it was green and I didn't want to dink around. $15 is a small price to pay for a glorious carbon plume. 

I wonder if Chinese conspiracy theorists are analyzing satellite data and coming to the conclusion that Americans are incinerating corpses in your back 40.

[Ben]

I wonder if Chinese conspiracy theorists are analyzing satellite data and coming to the conclusion that Americans are incinerating corpses in your back 40.

Naw, they know that our modus operandi is shoot, shovel, shut up. 

[Larry Ashcraft]

When my dad built our first home (early 1950s) our lawn had a lot of clover in it.  I don't remmber any problems with it, but then I was way too young to worry about it.

He had a large lawn at the third house he built (1960) that had a patch of clover.  He reported that the patch would move around and would leave the lawn where it had grown lush and green.

[charby]

I don't mind clover, by my neighborhood is basically a grass only lawn type of neighborhood.

[zxcvbob]

I don't mind clover, by my neighborhood is basically a grass only lawn type of neighborhood.

So sow red clover.  Or crimson, or alfalfa.     (I think crimson clover is pretty)

[charby]

So sow red clover.  Or crimson, or alfalfa.     (I think crimson clover is pretty)

Not worth having neighbors pissed at me

[p12]

If you really want to kill it, https://www.amazon.com/Agri-Star-Triclopyr-Herbicide-Gallon/dp/B004S70RK4  (you might can find it cheaper elsewhere)  I can't remember for sure the dilution rate for lawn weeds, but I think it's 1/8 oz (3/4 tsp) per gallon.  I use the stuff on creeping charlie.

Will it kill the lawn? Bermuda or st. Augustine.

[zxcvbob]

Will it kill the lawn? Bermuda or st. Augustine.

It dose not bother northern grasses at all.  I don't know about bermudagrass or St. Augustine; I would especially be careful with St Augustine...

Here's what I just found:

Chemical Action and Usages: Triclopyr is a selective systemic herbicide used to control woody and herbaceous broadleaf weeds and difficult to control weeds such as clover, wild violets, and ground ivy in lawns, grasslands, parklands and along right of ways. It has little impact on cool season turf grass but may damage warm season varieties such as Bermuda grass, Zoysia and St. Augustine. This characteristic makes it usable as a Bermuda grass suppressant (follow label directions) in fescue, bluegrass and ryegrass lawns. Triclopyr controls target weeds by mimicking the plant hormone auxin, causing uncontrolled plant growth making the weed literally growing itself to death.