Planting clover

[bucktail]

I have a few acres that I want some sort of legume on. I'm on sand. It needs lime which I'll be putting down this spring. Now I understand that the lime will take some time to work and that fall is a better time to plant, but I want to get a quarter acre sample or 2 down this spring. The land in question has about half way to the knee high grass on it. Soil is poor and doesn't support much. I have a brush mower a disk and a broadcast spreader for behind a mower. I'll probably get a roller as well. What's the recommended way to plant this? Mow and broadcast? Mow disk broadcast roll?
When I was growing up we'd plant Alfalfa with oats as a cover crop but I'm under the impression that clover doesn't need one. I may try alfalfa but I don't think that it will like my soil and it doesn't self seed worth a squat. I'd try birdsfoot trefoil if I could find some.

 

[skeets]

Maybe give a call to your county farm agent, he/she they might be able to give you a good idea for the area you are in, and maybe doing a soil sample will give you a better shot at growing, I havent priced clover in a long time but Im betting it aint cheap

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Buckwheat will grow just about anywhere. Has a crop, wildlife love it, and pollinators love it. Depending on your goal with soil improvements, buck wheat can help depending on your soil condition. If you care to harvest and mill it, it’s hard to beat a buckwheat pancake.

 

[ayak]

I’ve planted several clover food plots and never had one do very well in a sandy soil. There is definitely something that will grow there, though (maybe Lebeckia). Agree with Skeets on getting with the county agent. And I wouldn’t put down any lime until you get a soil test done, otherwise you may make it too alkaline if it really doesn’t need lime. You can get a soil test kit on Amazon and have a better idea what you’re working with.

 

[NCL4701]

Buckwheat will grow just about anywhere. Has a crop, wildlife love it, and pollinators love it. Depending on your goal with soil improvements, buck wheat can help depending on your soil condition. If you care to harvest and mill it, it’s hard to beat a buckwheat pancake.

Makes good honey, too if you like dark, strong honey.

 

[bucktail]

I can tell that the soil is acidic by what grows and what doesn't. The soil test would be good for telling me how much lime to apply, but I'm not worried about making the soil alkaline with lime. Pretty tough to do with soil this sandy. There's dutch white or some sort of micro clover in the lawn, so my thought process is that there's some sort of taller clover that will grow with the longer grass that doesn't get mowed, but I could be wrong there. I've always lived on clay until now. I'd like to try some variety of vetch if I could get my hands on seed. The farm magazines laying around my parents' place seem to be pretty fond of birdsfoot trefoil for mixing with grass on grazing ground. Anything that blooms is good for pollenaters,

I"d like to get some legume out there in the mix so that it fixes nitrogen, as the soil is pretty poor.

 

[ayak]

Here’s the back of a bag of clover seed that I planted back in Aug 2018.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

buckwheat.... used as a cover crop 1st year of 1/2ac veggy garden( had been lawn..'forever'). well no one TOLD me to turn over the buckwheat AFTER it'd flowered (gee..real pretty I thought....), time passes.. for the next THREE years it'd 'magically' come up, again and again.

If you plant clover, ask local beehive/honey guys what they'd like ! One neighbour did that, hasn't bought honey in years !

 

[bucktail]

Thanks, Ayak. It appears as though the 40lb bags of lime I've bought aren't going to do $hit, and neither will the spreader that holds 85 lb.

 

[JimmyJazz]

I agree with Skeets. Get the county extension agent involved. Sometimes planting seed is easier said than done. I spent several hundred dollars a few years ago on clover seed in an attempt to create a beekeepers paradise. None of the seed I planted established a permanent presence. Good luck.

 

[bucktail]

I might reach out to an extension agent. Anyone ever deal with pheasants forever? i've heard that they do some consulting for habitat and have equipment to loan out to boot.

 

[Bmyers]

Thanks, Ayak. It appears as though the 40lb bags of lime I've bought aren't going to do $hit, and neither will the spreader that holds 85 lb.

I think the last time we applied lime it was at a rate of 2.5 to 3 tons per acre, so it will take a lot of 40lbs bags to make a difference. Also, after the lime was applied, we had the two fields disced to work the lime into the ground.

 

[DustyRusty]

Clover root I was told will go down 18" and that is what makes it a drought resistant crop. One year, I put down a weed and feed and killed off all my clover.