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Our region is entering a time of year ideal for improving our pastures by frost-seeding clover. This is a long-established practice but after 2023’s very dry late summer and fall, many of our pastures have been grazed very closely and could use some help recovering in 2024. February is the ideal time to broadcast clover seed and realize an improvement in pasture yield and quality.
First step is seed selection. The University of Kentucky conducts comprehensive annual assessments of currently available perennial forage crops, including clovers. Go to https:// forages.ca.uky.edu/variety_trials or simply type “University of Kentucky forage trails” in your internet search engine. At this website, simple scroll down and you will see a list of forage variety trial reports including the ‘2023 Red and White Clover and Annual Lespedeza Report’ which will list various attributes of commercially available and new experimental varieties.
After acquiring your seed, the next step is to make sure it is properly inoculated with the right bacteria for fixing nitrogen. Most modern legume seeds come pre-inoculated. But if they have been stored in a too-warm environment or are more than a year old, these pre-treatments may no longer be effective. Fresh inoculum is inexpensive and easily mixed with the seed just before it is broadcast on the field. The bacteria is what allows the clover plant to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere, something grasses cannot do.
Broadcast the clover seed with a hand-operated or powered seed spreader. Red clover is usually applied at 4 pounds per acre and white clover at 2 pounds per acre. This is not much seed to apply to an entire acre so using a carrier like pelletized lime or 10-10-10 fertilizer can make it easier to distribute the seed evenly across the entire field. Some farmers talk about the success of applying clover seed on snow covered ground in February. It’s true the melting snow can help ensure good seed-soil contact but perhaps more beneficial is seeing your tracks in the snow so you know where you have spread seed!
Broadcasting grass seed is less reliable. Grass seeds are larger and generally need a slightly deeper planting depth and more intentional cover of soil. A roller or cultipacker pulled across the field immediately after the seeding can improve seed soil-contact for any seed that has been applied.
Some farmers note that the clover will be killed if weed control herbicides are applied during the growing season. If herbicide applications to control broadleaf weeds are planned for the field, the clover seed can still yield significant benefits in the spring and up until spraying, the farmer may just prefer to use a less expensive clover variety. If a long-acting herbicide like Grazon™ or Milestone™ was used on the field in 2023, then frost seeding clover should be delayed until February 2025. However, formulations of 2,4-D or Dicamba have much shorter residual time periods and even if applied in the fall, clover can be safely broadcast a few months later in February.
Call the Rockbridge Extension office at (540) 463-4734 or send email to [email protected] to get more information about improving pastures in the 2024 growing season.
