Microclover

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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SNN705
Posts: 14
Joined: October 15th, 2018, 3:39 pm
Location: West of Chicago
Grass Type: Old K31 NoMix overseeded w/ Black Beauty and Bewitched
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Some Experience

Microclover

Post by SNN705 » April 2nd, 2019, 1:35 pm

I have a "wasted" area between my garage and fence where I keep our compost bins, but it's otherwise not a usable space. I have a walking path that goes out there that there that's too small to manage with a mower so I basically just wack down anything that grows. I've been able to keep all the rough growth out of my main lawn and garden.

This year I'm going to plant microclover all in that area. I've already started some pots indoors to supplement what I'll seed direct in a few weeks (I'm in the western Chicago suburbs, soil temps are still ~40-45).

As this wasted area is connectable to my main back lawn, I'm going to let the microclover spread into the lawn to see what it looks like and how it reacts. I also saw a recent segment on TOH where they have it grow in a vegetable garden for nitrogen for the plants, might try that too.

I searched on here for anything microclover but it's been some time since a post. Anyone have or use microclover? Any thoughts on it? Since the backyard is medium shade, I haven't had too bad of weeds and should be able to discontinue the use of a broad herbicide for the microclover. I've bought the DLF microclover.

The backyard grass is a hodgepodge of shade mixes (some TF, creeping red, etc.). Although it's medium shade, I did trim down a bunch of branches last fall. I've bought some Mazama KBG and I'm going to do that in pots to try to introduce to the backyard. I'm assuming the microclover would have an easier time mixing in and spreading with the fescue blend vs KBG.

Thanks for any thoughts

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Microclover

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » April 2nd, 2019, 2:14 pm

I seeded white dutch clover with fescue for an unmanaged area in a very wooded area. The fescue has done better than the clover, but 4 years later I still have clover.

bpgreen
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Re: Microclover

Post by bpgreen » April 3rd, 2019, 12:32 am

I've got Dutch white clover and strawberry clover in my lawn. If I remember correctly, microclover is a variety of Dutch white clover that has smaller leaves. Clovers in general do well in shade as well as sun. It's not likely to dominate except in poor soil or if it's really neglected (it has low water needs and fixes nitrogen in the soil so it doesn't need nitrogen fertilizer).

SNN705
Posts: 14
Joined: October 15th, 2018, 3:39 pm
Location: West of Chicago
Grass Type: Old K31 NoMix overseeded w/ Black Beauty and Bewitched
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Microclover

Post by SNN705 » April 3rd, 2019, 6:36 am

Right, it's basically a miniature dutch white clover - 1/2 to 1/3 of the size with less flowering. It's also not supposed to have as much bunch growth as DWC so it spreads more evenly throughout the grass to thicken underneath. At least that's what the marketing folks say.

Due to medium shade, my backyard hasn't been as thick/full as other parts of the lawn. Between some solid tree limb removal and introducing both microclover and (fingers cross on the pots) Mazama, I'm hoping to fix all that.

If nothing else, I'm interested to see what a full area of microclover looks like in my unmanaged area. At least it'll be better and less work than whacking whatever grows.

I'll take some pictures when I get going and update this thread in case it may help others. A couple pots started now, full seed down in about 2 weeks.

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