This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Red Clover/prairies

Cindy, James et.al
On my 10-year-old 20-acre tallgrass prairie reconstruction (restoration?)
in south-central Michigan, containing 85 native forbs and 8 native grasses,
I continue to have a fair amount of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and some Alsike Clover (T. hybridum). Each year, the abundance of these clovers decreases despite the fact that I have never dug or sprayed them with a herbicide, although I have burned this prairie annually in early April for the past 8 years (which clearly suppresses their abundance).
However, the major reason these clovers are decreasing in abundance is due to the intense competition from the native forbs (less due to the native grasses). Thus, Red Clover is not of great concern to me. (Parenthetically, I should add that the clovers that one must aggressively address are the Melilotus species, i.e., M. alba and
M. officinalis, White Sweet Clover and Yellow Sweet Clover, respectively. These clovers are a substantial problem in many midwest areas, possibly the most tenacious of all the midwest exotic broadleafs.)
Cindy - Your 7 point prairie planting progrram is "right-on"! I do have 2 comments regarding this program. (1) Your point for the need of multiple mowings during the first year (do not let the flora exceed a height of 10 inches) should be underscored; such is extremely important and is too often ignored. (2) Initially planting a mixture of native grasses AND native forbs often can be a serious mistake! If the site to be planted has a history of an abundance of aggressive non-native broadleaf flora (e.g., the Melilotus species mentioned above, et.al.) and one plants a native grass/forb mixture, to rid the site of the non-native broadleafs one is restricted to digging up and/or broadleaf specific herbicide spot-spraying these exotics. On large sites with limited help, successful depletion of the non-native broadleafs is often impossible. In contrast, if one plants only native grasses initially, a motorized pulled herbicide field sprayor containing a broadleaf-specific herbicide (e.g., 2,4D or a 2,4D derivitive) used for 1 to 3 years, can effectively deplete the non-native broadleafs with relatively far less effort, far mor efficiently and without harming the native grasses. After the desired depletion of the non-native broadleafs, native forbs can then be planted via hand seed scattering (over-seeding) or via seed drilling (do not disturb the soil).
I have had great success using this method at many sites in southern Michigan.
James - You suggest a possible competitive relationship between Red Clover and certain Sedge species. On my 20 acre prairie site, those areas that have an abundance of soil moisture are rich in Sedge species and Red Clover is virtually absent; Red Clover and high soil moisture incompatibility?? (James, hope to see you again this year at Shaw during my trip to Missouri.)
Success to all!!
Cliff
Dr. Clifford W. Welsch
Professor Emeritus
Michigan State University
(517) 626-6996
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PRAIRIE

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index