I have a 1 acre plot that I plan on planting clover in this Fall. I’d like to prep it best I can to mitigate grass and weeds later.

I was thinking I could spray it and kill the weeds and grass now, then plow it in July and spray it one last time before planting in September?

Any thoughts?

2 qts glyphosate plus a pint of 2,4-D now. Disc after burn down is complete spray again with glyphosate only 2 weeks before planting. Go ahead and get lime down now as needed.

Definitely get a soil test and get any pH adjustments started. Scout for nutsedge and so what you can to kill it as nutsedge will take over a clover food plot in a couple/few years. In the fall, disc up the plot very good and plant/fertilize with wheat/buck oats. Broadcast your clover and very lightly drag over it. Don't expect a good clover stand the first fall/winter as most of the first few months of clover growth is in the root system. The wheat/oats will provide the clover some protection that first winter and in the spring you will have a nice stand of clover in time for turkey season.

What kind are you planning on planting? I can tell you from my observations that Durana grows the best in my area. Whitetail is pretty good, but I am not sure the deer like the Durana as well as whitetail clover. Durana is more hearty and it spreads better.

If I was going to start over, I would soil test first, and see where you need to be on PH. I would spray the field as soon as you can. Then once stuff dies, subsoil it and disk it. If you really want to boost it, plant the field in buckwheat. Heavy. Buckwheat will shade out all your new weeds. Add clay peas too if you like. Then in the fall, broadcast cereals, brassicas and your clover into the standing beans ahead of rain. Then next spring, come back and mow the field. You can spray it with Cleth or 2,4DB depending on what you want to control. Mowing it helps.

The biggest problem is if the summer following the fall you plant the clover is a low rainfall summer, its going to be tougher to control weeds. Last summer was really dry, and I had a hard time controlling weeds, because I wouldn't mow since the plants where stressed. In summers it rains, and I can mow about once a month, the stuff grows like wild.

My first clover field got away from me a couple summers ago, and I am about going to have to start over on it. I can't get a tractor down into it, which is the biggest issue. Now I have poison ivy growing in it, which I just sprayed with Imox to see if it will kill it. If it won't, then I am going to have to go with Gly. At that point I would probably just disk it and plant buckwheat and let it sit til fall.