What do I do now for my clover food plot?

By GrowingDeer,

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Thanks for the Monday morning videos. I have loved these for quite some time. Also, thank you for taking a positive stand on the Creator. I HAD a picture perfect crimson clover food plot 6 weeks ago. It fed the deer through the winter and was beautiful this spring. I went back this past week and the native grasses were 18 inches tall and completely blocking out the clover. The grasses are deep green in this area which tells me the clover is still there adding nitrogen to the soil. I think the grass is fescue. What do I do now?

Thanks,

Bob

Bob,

Thanks for the encouraging words! Crimson clover is a winter annual where you and I live – and has about finished its productive season by this time of year in the Ozarks (depending on precipitation amounts). I agree with your observations that the fescue is using the nitrogen provided by the crimson clover and doing well. If the crimson clover is all brown and made a hard seed already, then I would spray the fescue with glyphosate (generic Roundup) to control the fescue before it gets too tall. Once fescue is more than one foot tall it’s tough to control. You could use a grass specific herbicide like Clethodim, Select, Poast, etc., but those herbicides cost more and are not as effect as glyphosate at controlling fescue. If you do control/kill the fescue I’d plant a mixture of brassica, wheat, and radishes in the plot this fall about 60 days before the first expected frost. If the crimson clover has already made a hard seed, those seeds will germinate this fall/next spring and result in another great crop of clover for the early growing season!

Growing Deer together,

Grant