Clover Control

I have a bad clover problem here in the DC area. As much as I hate to use chemicals, I may have to. We are planning to take a 3 week vacation starting at the beginning of August.

Would I do damage to my grass if I sprayed a weedkiller on right before we left, so as to minimize our exposure to it?

Reply to
Frank McElrath
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Nah not a problem I'd try to get some 3/4 dca to kill kill kill.

Moron

Reply to
Bill who putters

How long have you been afflicted with a personality disorder?

Reply to
Frank McElrath

All my life, how long have you been using chemicals in such an asinine manner?

Reply to
Bill who putters

What is wrong with clover? What catastrophe would ensue if you had clover in your lawn?

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Never. That's why I am asking, you inbred cretin.

Reply to
Frank McElrath

I'm loving all the warm fuzzies.

Susan

Reply to
Susan

Well once in awhile i'll call some one a fool or an ass. No reason just stupid responses I have done too many times but I try to give substance . My button revolves around perfecting sterile environments that look "good" but are hazardous to well water life etc. Guess my fuse is short with this minor leak in the Gulf.

Sort of crazy may be due to cretin leanings.

Reply to
Bill who putters

I'm definitely with you on the use of chemical weed killer and such.

I'm not admitting to any cretinhood, however.

Susan

Reply to
Susan

I love clover, especially red, but crimson is pretty and is a good cover crop. Yellow sweet clover - I love the smell, although I think its in the pea family and not really a clover. You probably have white clover, which I also have plenty of. I need to buy some crimson clover seed - I haven't grown that in a few years.

Thanks for the reminder! Can't help with with weedkillers - never used them. Mowing seems to keep white clover looking tidy.

Reply to
kate

If it's truly clover and not oxalis, try using a paring knife to cut the root just below the soil and lift the plant. The remaining roots contain nitrogen nodules that will nourish your lawn.

If it's oxalis or if you are really insistent on killing the clover, use a lawn food with weed killer instead of spraying.

Reply to
David E. Ross

Would someone please pull the curtain for a moment?

Reply to
Billy

What's a clover problem? I have no clover problem, the deer and Canada geese think it's gourmet vittles... not to mention the bees.

Reply to
brooklyn1

So do horses and cattle but I doubt they have any of those.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Our love of tidy but not very diverse yards is imprinted on us by our culture. The immaculate lawn, under siege from ecological writers everywhere, developed in the mild and evenly moist climate of Great Britain. Its implications are deeply woven into our psyche. A lawn in preindustrial times trumpeted to all that the owner possessed enough wealth to use some land for sheer ornament, instead of planting all of it to food crops.

And close-mowed grass proclaimed affluence, too: a herd of sheep large enough to crop the lawn uniformly short. These indicators of status whisper to us down the centuries. By consciously recognizing the influence of this history, we can free ourselves of it and let go of the reflexive impulse to roll sod over the entire landscape.

Spray and split, and leave your neighbors holding the bag. Lacks a little something in integrity, but shows damn fine survival skills.

Now, would I prefer to have an inbred cretin with an aversion to herbicides living next to me, or someone who is prepared to turn their home into a Superfund site in order to get rid of clover, hmmmm. As luck would have it, Bill who putters is already surrounded by superfund sites, 3 or 4 in a radius of 10 miles, maybe 2 dozen within a radius of

50 miles, so you can imagine his reaction to your proposal.

Anyway, as luck would have it, the herbicide seems to be most dangerous to broadleaf plants, and legumes, those plants so important in making topsoil, that have been wiped out by commercial farming. But the planet isn't your problem, is it? Now your problem is that eIther you can go squat, and slice the offending clover off at its base with a knife, or you can hang around after you've done your dastardly deed, and reseed the area that was poisoned, because the lawn won't spread quickly enough to fill in the bare spots by itself. That of course means that that you will need to be there to water the nascent lawn patch, and thereby putting an ugly hole in you vacation schedule.

Or, you could learn to love clover, topsoil, and your planet.

Good luck.

Reply to
Billy

WOW! and I planted one acre of clover next to the bees home. MAN! I did not know that clover was that horrendous that it should be eradicated from the planet. MAN! I am stupid! (Go ahead I can take it).

Reply to
Dan L.

Fertilize lightly with a high-nitrogen fertilizer with no phosphorus. Keep the grass mowed, and don't water it too much. (clover likes moist, low-nitrogen soil with lots of phosphorus.) The grass should overtake the clover in the hot summer months.

If you just have to spray something, try something containing dicamba or triclopyr.

I like clover and a few violets in the lawn. Creeping Charlie is the lawn weed that I hate. (fluffing it up with a steel rake, kind of like dethatching, right before mowing does a number on it and almost keeps it under control)

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

Do you have black medic? The most effective time to treat weeds is in the spring.

Follow directions carefully. Use sprays on a windless day.

Reply to
Phisherman

My understanding is that a clover lawn seldom needs mowing, requires less water and fertilizer, and is naturally nearly weed free when established.

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much for the pluses, all of this is balanced by being able to be killed by broad leaf plant poisons. The beauty of grass lawns is a marketing invention of the chemical companies supplying broad leaf toxins. Suburbia has largely bought into this.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Thies

I agree with this completely. Clover, in general, indicates soil with poor nutrient level, especially nitrogen. Farmers of yesteryear knew soils where clover and Queen Anne's lace thrived were nutrient poor, and they would either compensate with green or conventional manures to be able to plant crops there, or simply would not use that piece of land for cropping. Improve the conditions for the lawn grass, and the clover will get choked out automatically.

Also true, but consider spraying as an absolute LAST resort, please.

Tony

Reply to
Tony

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