Scott, I got my Crimson Clover seed from Outsidepride.com. I probably paid too much for it, don't remember how much now. I was going to broadcast it in the "island" between my front sidewalk and the street, but I guess I was thinking it only quit blooming in early May, but that the green part lived all year. Bummer. Now I'm not sure where to plant it.

Glad you posted. Thanks!

Does it self-sow for the following year?

My DH and I have planted many acres of clover over the last 15 years - my favorite is the Rose Clover; but we have Crimson clover, ladino, Yellow Hop, and a couple of others. We originally planted by disking and drilling, but after a couple of years we learned that feeding hay with clover in it, or by mixing a little clover seed into the cattle feed (or goats) it was dropped, inoculated, and had a warm seed bed to start growing - much easier and gets a better stand. It is never a mistake to plant clover whether just a handful in your orchards, flowerbed, or garden, or in a pasture - it does reproduce if you leave it and don't mow it until after the seed matures. Just a few plants will draw in the bees and beneficial insects and besides - it's beautiful when it flowers. We got our clover from Borsen Bluestems in Perry, but some of the larger feed stores and even seed catalogs handle it too.

Thanks for that info, farmgardener. I will look into rose clover, also

The crimson clover is very compatible with bermuda grass and other summer grasses because it is done for the year when the grasses start to take off. It heavily reseeds itself, but the liitle plants will all die until September. Only a small percentage of the seed will have been hard enough to make it until then before trying to grow, but it will be enough to have about half as thick of a stand the next year.

farmgardener has some good info on seeding. From what I've read and from my experiences, the key to getting a good stand from seed is to make sure the seed is in good contact with the soil, the soil is firm underneath the seed but not hard, and the existing grass is as short as possible so the clover gets plenty of sun right after it starts to grow. It needs to get established before winter.

Ah, farmgardener, I wondered what all this "inoculation" business meant. Good tips there. I live in town, so unless I can get the neighbor's cats to eat the seed, I'm out of luck with that. LOL!

Where do you buy your Rose Clover? I might want to try that.

Scott, how hard is it to gather the seed and save it for planting in the fall?

It is very easy to collect the seed. The seed would be completely developed by about May 10 or so most years in Tulsa.

You can buy small amounts of innoculant at some of the seed places.

I was wanting to plant clover or even vetch this year in our pigs pasture. . . Also, are you planting in with your bermuda?

Scott:

I have clover in my yard and like what it does but I'm completely ignorant about planting it. You saying to plant it between Labor Day & October has thrown me a loop. Somewhere on here I read that it needs to be planted in February (light of the full moon or something like that--and while the ice on the ground is still crunchy!)

Right now my grass is growing like it's late May, what with the rain and all. Should the clover be planted as soon as the bermuda and other grasses start to turn?

Robert

I don't know if I have a great answer, but I will tell you what I do and what the consensus is from the things I have read.

If you are just planting a small amount of crimson clover, you can drop the seed into the bermuda by hand or small spreader and then scrape it pretty good with a rake or similar to make the seed sink down and come in contact with dirt. The bermuda needs to be mowed as short as possible before seeding. Don't seed until it will get water. and I would probably wait until the end of September or first couple of weeks of October if the bermuda is thick. If you are planting a lot, some type of harrow will be good to get the seed in contact with the soil.

Mine grows very well in my bermuda, but I only have a few small areas of bermuda since my lawn is more than an acre of old pasture and since I have never encouraged bermuda since we built the house. Also, my bermuda is usually is poor shape in September since I don't water it.

In some places people plant it in late winter. The experts here think around October 1 is best. It can be earlier if you know it will get enough water, and later if you are in an area (such as the middle of the city) where you will not get a hard freeze in the first few weeks from planting.

Well, Lord knows, you don't want to encourage Bermuda, Scott!! LOL

I thought I'd take the weed wacker out there and really scalp the grass before I broadcast my seed. Then walk around on it a lot and maybe hose it down good. I'll wait till early October, though.

Thanks for all this information. I've seen Crimson Clover growing in large patches and it is gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it does for me.

I bought 50lbs of crimson clover today and got it very cheap. It was the last they had, though.

If anyone wants a pound of it, and lives on the south or southeast side of Tulsa, let me know and I can give you some to try for free this year. One pound will go a long way.