| Clover comes in many varieties and its deer attracting qualities, nutritional qualities and its persistant in food plots has made clover one of the favorites of wildlife managers country wide. But there is another reputation that it has in some circles... and that is for being difficult to grow.
Clover is indeed a great forage crop and it does have certain requirements that non-legumes don't require. But these needs can easily be met by any attentive farmer/hunter/manager.
The first requirement is not unlike the requirements of other forage crops. pH should have been adjusted well before planting and seedbed preparation should begin with a very thorough disking of the selected site in September. The food plot should then be harrowed to achieve a uniform planting surface. This is the first step that can be overlooked with some other forages that one should pay special attention to with clover.
Now the big difference!!! Clover needs to be properly inoculated with live bacteria in order for it to grow properly. Proper inoculation will greatly, and I can't impassize that enough, greatly increase forage production.
What is all this inoculation business and what does it do? Clovers are a legume which means they are able to get nitrogen from the air for their own use, unlike all other non-legume plants. But clovers are only able to use nitrogen from the air if Rhizobium bacteria are present in nodules of their roots. To ensure that the the Rhizobium bacteria is present you will need to provide those live bacteria initially; therefore the need for inoculant.
Inoculant is applied to the clover seed before planting. Inoculants must also include an adhesive to hold the inoculant to the seed. Some people don't use a sticking agent but they are doing thereself a great disservice. Use of a sticking agent will give a much better chance of success especially if you end up planting under dry conditions. Subsequent planting in an clover plot aren't as important as some of the bacteria will already be in the soil but you will see better production if this step is not skipped.
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