Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Clover blends

I am wanting to establish some clover plots and looking at whitetail institute vs vitalize premium clover vs wms perineal plus. Anyone have experience with these?

Any particular reason you are looking at these and not just using a blend of crimson and ladino? Or another white clover that fits your soil?

Those are all good companies to buy quality seed from but I have kind of shifted my liking to strong annual mixes finishing with a good red clover. It seems I get through about the same point in summer and I think I see a preference over the perennial whites. I still have plenty of durana along roads and in orchards, etc

I plan on adding some crimson and oats in the fall on it, I just want to cover different timings of the year with the buffet offered in the mix etc

Planning on adding crimson in the fall just have always preferred a buffet when it comes to green fields. I feel like wms being in bama as well as whitetail institute would do well here in northwest bama. I’ve heard a lot about vitalize seeds as well. Though q clover interests me.

I have had good luck with WMS miss blend, nice clover stand!

I tried the vitalize system for 2 years. Never did the clover mix but I did their fall seed mix and their summer seed mix. I can’t remember what they called it. Seems like one was carbon load or something like that. I didn’t care for them. It was some of the first stuff I had ever planted so it may have been me.

Clover is clover. Just select varieties that thrive in your soil conditions. Also look at maturity dates, that way you can have max production from your blend until the heat shuts it down.

A lot of the perennial white clover varieties struggle in our summer heat from July through October. We’ve had pretty good rainfall this year, and they’ve done fairly well. If you can plant them in good soil suited for that particular variety they will do fine. I’ve planted every kind imaginable and they all have their uses. I’ve got almost 8 acres of Durana and biologic non-typical white clovers right now and the deer are hitting it as hard as soybeans. Can’t keep them out of it. First time I’ve seen deer over browsing clover this time of year so that it has a hard time keeping up.

I don't have much experience in planting clover, but the biologic non typical that I planted two years ago does exceptionally well in the summer if we get enough rains. It will dry out during dry periods but then perk back up as soon as we get some rain. Deer are hammering it this year. Do you plant many red clovers like T-hatchie mentioned and what would be your recommendation?

Biologic Non Typical clover is awesome. Lasts awhile if you take care of it after planting. I remember when I was a distributor and it first came out I sold a ton of it online.

I’m not sure how expensive it is, but it is a large leaf strain of ladino clover. It’s proprietary to Mossy Oak but there are several strains really close to it.

My non typical is struggling right now, but I really haven’t had a rain since the first week of July. They were hammering it pretty hard before this dry spell. I’m just going to overseed it with basic ladino this fall and see how it does.

I’m still trying to figure out what clover works best on my soil. This fall I’m going with berseem, arrowleaf, red and ladino. I’ll broadcast some vetch into in May and give them something to browse on all year

My mix is doing real good - has done well for few years. Ladino - Durana - Dutch white - lot of it in my 2 main fields

About to spray to kill everything but the clover

Everything I plant on these Baldwin County sand dunes burns up in the heat by May.

I can speak highly of the WI clovers. I have planted a lot of clover over the years and hands down have had the best luck with WI clover. I have ensured my PH is correct and applied fertilizer when needed and none of the others have out performed WI. I don't have a clue as to why, but that blend has done very well for me over the years.

Here is a picture from my home plot last fall. The photo quality is diminished when downloaded to post image. In the original you can zoom in on the photo and see the clover. I replanted the clover and chicory last fall. I mixed in a companion grass crop and terminated the grass this spring. It was very common to see 10+ deer in this two acre plot every afternoon.

That sure is a pretty plot, Squeaky! What blend from WI do you recommend? How much companion crop do you do per acre?

Thanks! I sure put a lot effort into my plots and it’s nice when everything pans out. I hunt high deer density areas so I will do a 150# acre mix on my cereal grain the first planting as a companion crop. Once clover is established I’ll drill 125# acre of cereal grain into the established clover. I like buck forage oats, cereal rye and wheat. I have a custom made spreadsheet I use to fine tune what I plant and how much. It’s very dependent upon the deer density.

Appreciate the info. I have seen your posts for years and your attention to detail always shows out. My place around Evergreen doesn't have near the deer density that my new place in butler county seems to have. What clover blend do you like the best? How long do you usually get out of your chicory before you have to replant? I planted some chicory last fall, and it seems to be establishing well.

Great looking plot Squeaky! About to go spray my clover - it’s been looking great for a few years

Very nice plot and info!

In the plot pictured I planted WI imperial clover blend and their chicory. They make a Fusion blend that has their clover and chicory. I can not speak from experience about that blend. I have got 5 years out of the strait clover. The clover/chicory becomes more of challenge to control broadleaf weeds. With the chicory in the mix IMOX mixed with nitro surf is about the only option for herbicide. I'm still trying to master the prefect rate of this combination to get a good kill and not kill my chicory. The recommended rate is 4 oz. to the acre but that has not been effective for me. I am going to try 6 oz per acre and see how effective that is even though that rate is not recommend for chicory.

durana and chickasaw ( rampart, osceola, and a 3rd i can’t remember) together has been a tough mix to beat for me personally. one or two of the 4 types of clover will thrive in pretty much any environment you put it in provided decent ph and rainfall. i’ve planted barduro with great results if you have black belt soils. experimented with WI and mossy oaks non typical as well. keep the p and k maxed out and pray for rain


barduro field, planted in october, no spraying, fertilizing , or mowing after deer season. pic taken in mid july best i recall

Good deal. I am going to try and establish some more clover/chicory plots this fall and have always heard good things about WI. This was my first year trying chicory and I have been impressed with how long it has survived during the heat of the summer. I do have some shade on this particular plot so that may have helped. Please let us know how the 6oz per acre of IMOX with nitro surf works out and good luck this year

Nice pic!

No kidding! I would LOVE for my fields to look like that right now. My clovers are smoked, shriveled and done for the summer.

That is some tonnage for the middle of summer! I have heard good things about red clover and looks like I need to try some barduro. What is your seeding rate?

10lbs/ac

**** correction, it was barblanca, not barduro. i knew it didn’t look right when i typed it. it’s a barenbrug product, top notch product and company