Clover is one of the more common weed types in lawns around the world, and is often confused with a similar looking trifoliate weed named Oxalis. It can be a rather ugly weed when it invades our lawns and it is most worthwhile controlling it whenever seen as it will spread very quickly.
Four Leaf Clover?
Clover is known as Trifoliate, meaning three leaves, but what about the four leaf clover?
Yes the four leaf shamrock is indeed a real thing, more than that though, the leaf segments on clover can increase to a much higher count than that, with the highest count so far recorded being a 56 leaflet clover… how’s that for luck !!
Clover Honey and Bees
Bees have a natural fondness for clover and the honey the clover flowers produce is often highly sought after. Farmers who grow clover as pasture will often bring in bee keepers to help propagate more clover, which obviously also benefits the beekeeper for the quality of honey produced.
For this same reason, clover in home lawns will likewise attract bees to the lawn as they seek after and are attracted by their favourite clover snack.
For those of us who have children playing on our lawns then any sort of clover infestation could result in possible bee stings to children, so effort should be made to remove the clover entirely from the lawn.
For those of us without children, we obviously don’t want clover in our lovely home lawns, however some around the garden beds may not be that bad of an idea, if controlled. The attraction of bees to clover may also bring bees to other parts of our gardens too, whereby they can also pollinate other plants too. Remember, bees are good, it’s just the stings we want to watch out for.
When to treat clover: whenever seen
Botanical name of clover: Trifolium repens
Management Of White Clover
Lawn mowing will not kill white clover, the creeping stems of these weeds will be under lawn mowing height, and even though we may cut the tops off this weed, this will never kill the clover. Small pieces of clover are able to propagate themselves and create new plants too, so we should ensure our lawn mower catcher is in good order, and be sure not to mulch mow our lawns if clover is present, as this can spread the weeds even further.
Clover likes soils with a neutral pH level and will naturally add nitrogen to soils through its roots, in this sense clover will fertilise our lawns, however it is still a weed that we may not want in our lawns and may want to get rid of.
While white clover will produce nitrogen into the soil that does not mean it likes Nitrogen, in fact white clover doesn’t like much nitrogen at all, which is why it thrives in poorer soils. Fertilising our lawns with a high nitrogen fertiliser will in this regard help to control white clover too, as it gives the lawn a good environment to live in and a poor environment for the clover to survive.
Killing White Clover
Pulling clover from the lawn by hand is a very good idea, which is something I say about many other weeds types too, as it reduces the chemicals in our gardens and environment. A small digging tool is handy to help remove the roots of clover and we should ensure all the runners of the clover weed are also removed. Be sure not to leave pieces of the weed behind on the lawn, as these may grow new weeds.
There are herbicides readily available for the treatment of white clover. Most often these herbicides will be in a concentrate form and will need to be diluted with water and applied to the lawn as per manufacturers instructions.
Regrowth of clover after treatment by herbicide or by hand pulling is to be expected, so we should continue to keep an eye out for any new clover to appear in our lawn and to pull them out as soon as seen.
please read the terms to republish articles before republishing
you do not need to ask permission to republish - so long as you abide by the republishing terms
some website types are banned from republishing articles from this website
while all lawn care articles are freely shared - they remain original and copyright to lawnmowingcontractor.com
