Software
Houzz Logo Print
asnewatthis

Clover in my lawn

6 years ago

My front yard has large patches of clover (white flower kind). I tried pulling it out (I know), not realizing it grows by shooting horizontally, so I could spend DAYS getting it out of there and even then, I wouldn't get all the roots. It has killed (it's brownish, in May, so I'm assuming killed) most of the grass that was there, so in the process of pulling it out and not realizing how much there really was, there are plenty of bald spots. I despise using chemicals (we don't use Roundup) but I sucked it up and used BioAdvanced 3 in 1 weed and feed that my landscape nursery recommended. It didn't touch the clover and seems to have made what was left of the grass browner. I would like it to be a lush grass lawn again, as we are going to sell our house in a few months. What is the most cost effective way to get a green lawn again? Do I treat the clover and overseed? Scrape out what we have and lay GroTrax? Scrape out what we have and lay new sod?

Comments (16)

  • 6 years ago

    First, where are you and what kind of grass do you have? (If you're not sure, where you are will give us some indication).

    Clovers don't kill grasses--they're not strong enough--so they're just opportunistically taking advantage of something else killing the grass. Possibly, it might be the disturbance of having something pulling things out of the ground, killing the grass roots. :-) So yes, definitely stop that. Clover won't mind having its roots disturbed. Grass does.

    Cultural practices can get rid of clover, and I've done it, but it takes time. Quite a lot of it, which you don't have. Ultimately, chemical methods will be required here, but we'll need to know the grass type to know what's appropriate for a fast fix.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    If you could take a photo? Closeups, too, including the tips of the grass. It'll help our grass ID experts (certainly not me!) ID what it is.

    If it's fescue, Weed B Gon CCO (clover, chickweed, and oxalis) will knock clover right out.

    I'm not sure about the BioAdvanced....Weed and Feed can be touch and go depending on usage and we're generally not fans of it around here due to that. The ONLY version I see is for southern lawns. Fescue is a northern grass.

    This is potentially problematic as it specifically states, " Do not apply to: Bahiagrass, Bentgrass, Ormond variety of Bermudagrass, Buffalograss, Carpetgrass, Dichondra, Fescue, Kikuyugrass, Ryegrass and Seashore Paspalum lawns."

    Please note the bold, italic, "FESCUE" in the list.

    Please verify that you used something other than the version I found...?

  • 6 years ago

    (Sigh of relief) Good, good. Ten to one, the clover is Unhappy, but most herbicides can take up to 2 weeks to kill it--or even more than that. Clover's pretty durable and may require a second shot, as well. If it does, I'd follow up with WBG CCO at about the three week mark as mentioned above rather than feeding again (it would be overkill and potentially damaging). At that point, enough should be dead that you can simply spot-spray anything that remains.

    As long as the lawn is fescue, that'll take care of it--but we still have to determine that one.

  • 6 years ago

    Are bees working the clover in your lawn at this time?

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    For me, I mix about 1/4 cup of epsom salts in a gallon (with holes in the spout) of water and it always comes up a nice dark green. I use epsom salts in all my plants and my lawn too. I don't use pesticides or any kind of chemicals. It won't take care of your clover though. Let the bees enjoy!

  • 6 years ago

    Epsom salt--magnesium sulfate--works well if you're short on magnesium or sulfur. If not, it can be...well, let's say problematic. Overshooting on magnesium can result in a tight, hard to work soil that people call "clay" because it locks tighter'n a steel drum due to deflocculation.

    The excess sulfur doesn't tend to be much of an issue; sulfur leaches out pretty easily in areas with decent rainfall. I'm not sure of the inches per year for the OP, but anywhere where fescue works, it shouldn't be a major issue.

    It's generally unwise to add any nutrient (except nitrogen on schedule) without a soil test and a good plan.

  • 6 years ago

    That's great news that my work so far hasn't been all for not. I'm glad to hear what I already put on it might still work. I'll give it a bit more time and quit trying to pull it out of the yard.


    I bought some seed, should I put that down to try to help thicken up the grass?


  • 6 years ago

    Seeding's a tough prospect in April, but what with looking to move shortly, it's worth a shot. If you end up having to spray the clover, the spray is going to kill any new seedlings (or at least do severe damage), so definitely try to restrict spraying to spot sprays.

    Keep the seed damp by watering 2 to 3 times daily. Unfortunately, that's also going to encourage every weed seed in the area, and they're going to practically smell fallow soil and begin booking flights in from surrounding states...

  • 6 years ago

    You live in one of the very (very) few places in the continent where you can reseed this time of year; however, I'd sure like to see what your lawn looks like before you go to that trouble. You've been asked a couple times for pix. When you take the pictures, if you can do it on a cloudy day, those turn out the best. If you are taking pictures of specific weeds, get down in there about 6 inches away. The flowers on clover are important, because some plants that look like clover are not clover.

  • 6 years ago

    This is our front yard.


    This is the clover, which by the way, didn't start looking like this til this afternoon. Even when I went out there this morning it was green and lively as could be.



    And there are spots in the lawn that are bald now that I pulled the clover out of parts of the lawn. The top of the lawn is the worst. Like this:



  • 6 years ago

    How about putting some stubs there instead? The location and shape of the yelllow spot suggest dogwalker. In any case, clover is your friend. It contributes nitrogen snd green. Used to always be a component of high end grass seed until the seed companies wanted to market weed killer that only spared grass.

  • 6 years ago

    I think that spot is my mother in law letting her dog potty before they leave. If it's not there, it will just end up being a different spot in the yard.


    My last photo is the top of the yard, near the bushes. I have a feeling it's more brown because of the way it gets sun exposure.


    Should I seed the whole thing?


  • 6 years ago

    Lawns in my area start to look like this when summer is coming on, they are drying out.

  • 6 years ago

    Picture #1: If you think that dead spot is from a dog, scatter some table sugar on the area. I've never seen a spot that big from dogs, so I'm not sure what the rate would be. Excess sugar is harmless, so I'd probably put 'several' cups of sugar on that area. Moisten afterwards, but don't wash it away. Give that 3 weeks before you do anything else in that area. The grass might come right back. If it does, it will be greener and faster growing that the adjacent grass. Sugar is not a fertilizer, but it will stimulate the microbes in the soil to go into mass production of organic fertilizer.

    Picture #2: Yes that was clover and yes, the herbicide kicked in. Although I've never seen Dutch white clover that did not have a white shadow ring through the middle of the leaves...like this.


    In any case, it's going away soon.

    Picture #3: If you decide to reseed that area, I would do a full renovation. Oops! I just remembered something about RoundUp from your initial post. I guess you can't do what I was going to suggest. The renovation approach I like involves two rounds of Round Up, one week apart with lots of shallow watering during the process. If you don't like glyphosate then that's out. So instead, tell me about your watering schedule. How often and for how long do you water the lawn? I think I'm going to suggest a change to that and see what happens.