Crimson clover
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Julius Koenig
22-Mar-23
Anyone using crimson clover in their rotation? I’m in the northeast and wonder if it’s worth planting.
Thanks
From: c5ken
22-Mar-23
I've planted white (Ladino) in S/E Michigan & got over 5 years of crop.
From: KHNC
22-Mar-23
I use it in SC on low ph ground. It came up last year on an old gravel road. All i did was run a spring plow down the road and broadcast it. Came up thick! I was surprised. It grows much better than Durana initially, but Durana will last several years once you finally get it started.
From: midwest
22-Mar-23
over and over
From: Pat Lefemine
22-Mar-23
I use it all the time in my fall blends. If you want a perennial clover plot go 75% crimson and 100% of perennial clover (red, ladino, durana, etc) and you’ll get a lush, fast clover plot immediately followed by the perennial plot in year 2.
From: BullBuster
22-Mar-23
it is a bigger seeded clover. I found that you need to do a little more soil prep compared to other clover seeds when straight broadcasting.
From: smarba
22-Mar-23
What is the song by Tommy James and the Shondells, covered by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, for $500?
From: JC3
22-Mar-23
Crimson and clover, over and over,,,,,,,
From: Highlife
22-Mar-23
Wrong What is crimson and clover
From: scentman
22-Mar-23
Now I don't hardly know her, wawawawawa... crimson an clova over and over.
From: wv_bowhunter
23-Mar-23
When I was a kid, my family planted crimson clover as a cover crop on the tobacco field every year. It would be up and established by our hunting season and was always a deer magnet.
From: Julius Koenig
23-Mar-23
Thanks guys, looks like I better get it in the mix.
From: sir misalots
29-Apr-23
is it a good fall planting?
From: Zbone
29-Apr-23
Great song...8^)
From: BOHUNTER09
29-Apr-23
Picked up 15 pounds today
From: drycreek
29-Apr-23
This is my pond dam. Evidently I planted it with my shredder. Our highways are planted with wildflowers and crimson clover by the state and I keep my frontage mowed, but I never mow before the seed heads ripen. It gets thicker every year.
From: Pat Lefemine
30-Apr-23
Preston, I plant it in Late July, early august typically in one of my annual plots.
From: sir misalots
30-Apr-23
thanks Pat. Looking at getting some for a micro plot
From: fuzzy
01-May-23
I've used it with rye on new plots and gotten good essults
From: goyt
01-May-23
I have also been planting it with rye around 8/1 in new plots. Draws deer well the first year. What is truly amazing is how quickly the soil quality improves by using annuals like crimson clover, cereal rye and oats.
From: Zbone
01-May-23
Cliff - If you plant it on 8/1 or before, will it grow by dormancy in October around here??? I had read not to plant anything in the month of July, although I've broadcast seeded clover in late August but it never seemed to grow by October... So I'm confused if not to plant in July and it didn't grow for me in late August, I guess only the first couple weeks of August is best and/or is it okay to plant in late July?
From: goyt
01-May-23
Gary- I have never heard not to plant in July as any hard and fast rule. To have young and tender plants in October and maybe into early November it is good to plant in early August. I try to have my fields ready to plant anytime in the later part of July for a new planting. This mostly means that if I have used a herbicide with a residual effect it was long enough ago that it will not affect the planting. I then look for a period of time where rain is forecasted for several days over the next 7 to 10 days. If that happens in last July I plant. I sprayer with glyphosate within a few days of planting or the day I plant. I try to plant immediately before a rain. If good rains are not predicted until mid to late August I wait until then. I hope that I have some straw from the last fall's rye to help hold the moisture. Regardless of when I plant the success of the plot is more determined by the rain then the calendar. The crops including the clover always seem to come up. If we get 4-5 weeks after the crops come up w/o much rain they maybe stunted and not as thick. I may then plant some additional rye in September. Either way the clover will keep growing regardless when it was planted well into October and maybe even into November. The deer seem to prefer the grains to the clover anyway after late October. In the spring the crimson clover seems to do very well until it goes to seed. I have not had the problems getting it to grow that you have experienced. I hope this helps.
From: Zbone
02-May-23
Good stuff Cliff, thank you sir...
From: goyt
18-May-23
Here is what the crimson clover I planted around August Ist looked like yesterday.
From: goyt
18-May-23
Half of the plot in the picture in my last message was planted in a perennial clover blend with oats as a cover crop at the same time as the crimson clover. Rye was planted about a month later and another perennial blend was frost seeded in February. Here is what it looked like yesterday.
From: JW
18-May-23
Frost seeded this plot in March. Using it for green manure for brassicas this fall. Does a great job as a spring forage for deer and turkey as well.
From: Kydeer1
18-May-23
How are you gonna use it for green manure? You going to terminate it with herbicide and plant brassicas or just mow it real short, or disk it?
From: JW
18-May-23
Kydeer, I’ll mow it around mid July and then turn it under with a roto tiller first week of August and plant.
From: scentman
18-May-23
JW, that's a great pic!
From: t-roy
18-May-23
Very nice, Jeremiah! Kind of like Ohio’s version of Texas Turks in the bluebonnets. Congrats on the bird, as well!
From: craigmcalvey
19-May-23
Anyone mix rye or a brassica like forage radish/rape into their crimson clover mix?
From: Hunts_with_stick
19-May-23
Midwest, I was thinking the same thing!!
From: goyt
20-May-23
Craig, I have done both. The radishes come up first and the crimson clover looks like a no show at first. Then for me the deer ate and killed the radishes and the clover did good. Cereal rye has always worked well for me as a nurse crop and as a deer attractant with crimson clover.
From: craigmcalvey
20-May-23
Thanks goyt. I know the crimson likely wouldn’t overwinter in zone 4 but how does it fare in November-December?
From: goyt
21-May-23
Craig, I am in Ohio which is a lot warmer than Michigan . The CC seems to do fine here and stays green. However, it seems to stop growing. I do not look at my food plots much that time of the year so I am not certain what is going on. Due to a lack of Ag in the area my food plots become destination plots regardless how small they are so they are eaten down to the extent that it is hard to tell how much growth there is. I over seed with rye in most plots and I think that is the big draw in November and December. Here are some pictures of a .25 acres plot in November.
From: craigmcalvey
21-May-23
Thanks!
From: Catscratch
21-May-23
Is that trailer a blind?
From: wisconsinteacher
22-May-23
Great info. I worked on my plot this weekend and have it ready to plant Crimson clover as soon as I see rain in the forecast. (unfortunately, it looks dry the next 10 days!!)
From: goyt
22-May-23
The trailer is not a blind yet. It probably should be.
From: goyt
22-May-23
Mathew, I do not know what is the earliest crimson clover can be planted w/o having it go to seed that year. Being an annual it dies once it goes to seed. I plant it end of July first part of August to get both the fall growth and deer attraction plus the great soil building benefits the next spring and early summer.
From: Bake
22-May-23
Crimson clover was in a mix from Real World Wildlife that I planted last fall. Pretty small percentage, most of the mix is brassicas and oats/what. Didn't see much of the crimson clover over the fall or winter, but it's up and blooming nicely this spring. Plot is getting nightly use from deer so they like something in there. I'll disc it under here in a couple weeks. I'd like the wheat the mature first, because I'd like to leave some wheat seed on the ground
