Hi all,
I do brush clearing and rototilling as a side business. Over time I have an increasing number of customers asking me to provide additional services such as reseeding. The latest is a customer who wants me to reseed with clover. I've done some research and found a good variety for the application. What I haven't found is how to spread the seed. I understand that clover seed is very fine. Do I need a grass drill? Can clover be broadcast? The end goal for the project is a low maintenance, low fire hazard ground cover for a 2 acre former pasture.
Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Be careful with the reseeding, it could become a full time job. LOL I started doing a little yard repair several years ago and after about a year of just wkend work, it turned into 2 hydroseeding trucks, tractors, prep equipment, 4 and 5 man crews and almost 7 days a wk. Got to the point I was working way more than I wanted so I shut down and sold out.
For Clover, a hydroseeder is a excellent way to get even coverage, but probably not a piece of equipment you want to invest in. One of those simple hand crank broadcaster will do just find, especially on small areas. My favorite method for small areas was to broadcast the seed and then use a tow behind aerovator to work the seed into the soil. The areovator had vibrating spikes that penetrate the soil, fracturing the hard pan in every direction and also had a rubber cultipactor wheel in the rear that would loose pack the soil behind. This resulted in excellent seed to soil contact and I never had a planting failure planting with this method. Since you already have a tiller, I suggest, tilling and using a drag of some sort, (chainlink fence), to smooth, but not pack. Then broadcast the seed and one of those small towbehind spiker areators to get adequate seed to soil contact.
Innoculant is important for any legume, but it is not necessary to buy seed that is already innoculated. You can buy little pack of innoculant at most feed and seed stores, Just open the packet and dump on the seed and stir by hand until the seed is coated. Lots cheaper than buying innoculated seed and is basicly what the seed suppliers do anyways. Most likely the innoculant bacteria will already be present in the soil anyways, but adding more only helps.
My favorite choice of clover was Duranta. It is a white clover with and aggressive root system. Since a lot of my work was in erosion control, Duranta just made more sense than other clover types. It is a tall clover and a better food plot plant than the white dutch for pulling in deer and other forage type animals. Has highest protein percentage than other clovers as well. My chickens love it and lay the darkest yoke eggs when they have access to it. Durant works best if planted with other grasses, but will eventually take over if proper mowing doesnt take place. Keeping it mowed to about 4inches will keep it in check.
While clover and other legumes are claimed to increase soil fertility, thats not exactly true, but not false either. The soil contains what it contains and no crop will change that fact. What clover does do is fixate nitrogen, which in turn feeds the soil microbial animals. These microbes, along with plant root exuades, break down the soil that is already there turning it into a more easily usable food source for the plants growing there. Plants growing there also use the nitrogen which allows them to exchange more CO2 from the air, putting the carbon into the soil and releaseing the O2 back into the atmosphere. Carbon being the backbone of the microbes and plants growing in the soil and what we are mainly made of of also.
A mention was made that you might need to lime the soil before planting. May or not be true, but I know nothing of your soil type in Va. Liming is often suggested to raise the ph levels in the soil. Ph is very much misunderstood. Ph is simply a measure of hydrogen levels in the soil, nothing else. Ph should be balanced using the proper materials needed to do the job. Lime is only one such material and there is more than one type of lime. If simply rasing ph is ones goal. I can get those levels up pretty quick using sodium carbonate. You can have a perfect ph level using sodium carobnate, but you probably wont be able to grow anything there. Supply the nutrients that are missing and chances are you will have a pretty good ph level. Lime is most often chosen simply beacuse Calcuim is usually the missing nutrient and the one needed in the largest amounts. Now do you choose calcium carbonate lime or Calcium magnesium, Dolomite lime to get the job done. Magnesium has approx 1.6 times the ph raiseing effect of calcium, so which one do you choose. If your only chaseing ph, then Dolomite will give you more bang for your buck, but does your soil need more magnesium, or can it benefit from more calcium. Only a soil test will tell you for sure. I am only saying this because most folks will tell you to lime your soil and you could actually be lowering your soil fertility levels by blindly following their advise.
Another word of caution about using lime. Soil test recommendation for lime are usually based on a 6 3/4 inch layer of the soil and are meant for the applied lime to be incorporated to that depth, by tillage or other means. Simply broadcasting the lime on top of the soil will not have, or will have very little short term effect on that full 6 3/4 inch soil layer. You should only surface apply as much lime as you can effectively expect the lime to translocate down into the soil layer. Generally, and it varies according to soil type and rainy conditions, you can estimate lime application to around 15% of recommended amounts for every inch of the soil layer you can expect to be affected. Usually about 45% of the recommended amount for the first surface applied treatment, with the remaining amounts spread in followup applications. If you are going to incorporate the lime into the soil before planting, then braodcast the entire recommended amounts before tillage. Over applications of lime can have just as negative effects as not applying any lime when it comes to balancing soil fertility.
