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Clover.

Hi everyone. I taken over maintenance of a lawn that has been kep short but is covered by about 80% clover. 

I think the cause could be down to poor soil nutrition?   If I kill it all off now then the customer will be left with a massive amount of dead weeds in her lawn and not much else. Which I don't think she'd thank me for .

I'm thinking the best solution is to leave them be for now. Hopefully the winter months which are just around the corner, will kill them off for me and come early spring I can look to apply a good programme of fertiliser treatments

Question is. Is this the right way to go about things?

 

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Replies

  • PRO

    Hi Gary

    I'd treat with a selective herbicide and a high nitrogen fertiliser now. Grass is still growing ( assuming we get some rain !!!! )

    I take it you have your PA 1 & 6 ?

    Mark

    • Hi. Yes I have my PA1-6. But I'm very, very weary of killing off such a large area. I really don't think the customer will thank me for it tbh. Also. Treating with a high nitrogen feed now. Won't that just make the weeds grow more? 

  • PRO

    Hi Gary, Clover is natures way of capturing nitrogen for the soil, so it's presence is a sure sign of lack of nutrition. As Mark says, selective herbicide now with a feed. I'd do it as a liquid as quicker take up and shorter longevity. The weed control will slowly kill off the clover / other weeds and the feed will encourage grass growth. You've only a couple of weeks to do this before it's time to swap to lower N ferts for autumn root growth.

    Expect to do another selective weed control and high N feed in the spring. Should all be good by next Easter and won't look terrible in the meantime assuming there's some grass there to grow.

    • Thanks a lot. There is Some grass at the moment. But as I've already mentioned 80+% of the lawn is covered in clover. Can you imagine how the customer will feel if her new gardener kills off 80+% of her lawn and tells her not to worry?

      If I just left it for a few weeks just strimming and mowing it as short as possible. Won't mother nature take care of killing it all off come early to mid November when temperatures drop?

      Then come early spring. As you say. A quick selective herbicide to kill off anything remaining. Then a full programme of feed throughout the year starting with a high nitrogen in early spring?

      Or am I way off the mark here? 

  • PRO

    Clover is a perennial weed ie it will just go dormant during the winter not die. So all will be there in the the spring.

    A selective herbicide is not an immediate kill. The clover will gradually decay over 6-8 weeks and the grass, uneffected will grow especially if fed. I think your picture of what will happen with the selective application is wrong. Use something gentle on grass like Praxxis.

    Also will be terrible to mow low at this time of year - it needs to recover from the summer.

    Does the clover bother the customer? If not then leave it be - 100 years ago a fine lawn seed mix would include clover for it's benefits (less feed, less water, helps grass green-up).

    If it does bother the customer, then you'll need to bite the bullet sometime and treat a couple of times. A good time is to start now for the quickest results.

    • Thanks Andrew. Much appreciated 

  • PRO

    Personally I would discuss this, together with the risks with your client, and suggest you do a section at a time over the next 2 to 3 months (assuming it stays warm/wet enough. That way if disaster does strike, they have been warned.

    All that said if you are in the South, I would say it is too dry to see any benefit. I literally havent done more than strimming the seed heads off our lawn at home since June!

    • PRO

      Gary

      If you do use Praxys, remember it can only be applied once in a twelve month period.

      Mark

  • as andrew says winter will not kill it also do you know what colour clover it is as some brands will kill one type but not the other 

    round here its still very dry and have not cut any grass for 5 weeks and the grass is brown so treating it now would be risky as there is a hosepipe ban 

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