Growing Crimson CloverKephart, L. W. (Leonard Wheeler)
Science
Growing Crimson Clover
Kephart, L. W. (Leonard Wheeler)
Crimson clover
When clover is seeded in an intertilled crop, such as corn, cotton, or
tomatoes, the customary cultivation received by these crops is ordinarily
sufficient preparation for crimson clover. In sandy soil the clover is
often seeded without any immediate preparation, but a light stirring with
a harrow-toothed cultivator is desirable if the ground is hard. If the
clover is to be used for hay or seed, the preceding crop should be laid by
level rather than in ridges. This will facilitate cutting the clover.
Where crimson clover is seeded after a crop of small grain, the stubble
should be plowed or disked as soon as possible after the grain is cut.
Stubble land dries out quickly, partly because the soil is suddenly left
bare and partly because of the drain on the soil moisture by the crops of
ragweed and other coarse-growing weeds which always follow a grain crop.
Unless the soil is cultivated at once it becomes very difficult to obtain
anything like an ideal seed bed for crimson clover. This difficulty is
usually more pronounced after oats and barley than after rye and wheat.
Ordinarily the best practice is to disk the grain stubble within a week
after harvest and harrow every week, or at least after every rain, in
order to settle the ground, destroy the weeds, and assist in holding the
moisture pending the time of seeding the clover. Plowing the stubble
is more expensive than disking and requires that the ground be allowed
to settle for a month or six weeks in order to secure a firm seed bed.
Plowing is an advantage in a wet season, because plowed ground dries
readily; it is a disadvantage in a dry season for the same reason.
=FERTILIZERS.=
On moderately rich soil the fertilizer applied to the preceding crop is
sufficient to produce a good crop of crimson clover. This is especially
true where the clover follows such crops as potatoes or tomatoes, which
ordinarily are heavily treated with fertilizers. It is important to
realize, however, that crimson clover has a very short period of growth,
and that to make a vigorous growth it must have a good supply of plant
food. On sandy soils where fertilizers have not recently been applied it
is often the practice to apply from 150 to 200 pounds of acid phosphate,
with some potash fertilizer if it can be afforded. On clay soils 200 or
300 pounds per acre of acid phosphate ordinarily are sufficient. On many
soils a light application of nitrate of soda will assist materially in
giving the young clover plants a good start and often will enable them to
withstand the effects of a late drought or severe winter which otherwise
might have injured the stand. If the seeding has been delayed, as by
waiting for suitable rains, an application of not more than 75 pounds of
nitrate of soda per acre will stimulate the young plants and enable them
to make a better growth before winter.
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