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red clover question

First, a salute to Wayne Morton.  Twenty-seven acres of thick brush cleared?
WOW.  I'll remember that as I face brush here in Iowa.

Compared to thick brush, a red clover problem (Trifolium pratense) may be
minor.  I haven't been able to find control info on the Internet, so maybe
it's
not considered a serious invasive.  But red clover is increasing significantly
on my prairie reconstruction, while other non-native legumes are declining.

The reconstruction is thirteen years old and has fair diversity (about eighty
species).  The red clover is intermingled with both warm season natives like
prairie blazingstar and cool season natives like blue-eyed grass.  So I'm
leery about spraying.  But maybe there's a way to do it without sacrificing a
lot
of good plants(?)  Or maybe another strategy would work.  Pulling or digging
all the plants would take huge amounts of time and energy, but if that's the
only solution, I want to know.

I'd appreciate info from anyone who has dealt with red clover successfully.
I'll pass solutions around, because others in my area have the problem too.  I
have talked with a few people who said that red clover declined when they
used prescribed fire and added native legume species as competition.  But fire
and native legumes are not helping here, so I need new strategies.

Thanks!

Cindy


Cindy Hildebrand
grantridge@aol.com
Ames, IA  50010

"Observed an Eclips of the Moon. I had no other glass to assist me in this
observation but a small refracting telescope belonging to my sextant,
which...enabled me to define the edge of the moon's immage with much more
precision that
I could have done with the natural eye."  (Meriwether Lewis)

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