Conversations with cattlemen, as well as homeowners, residing anywhere from Licking County to Fairfield and down through Highland and Butler Counties suggest that most Ohioans are experiencing an abundance of volunteer or "wild" clovers this year. While cattlemen may be enjoying it, homeowners are cussing it. Regardless, it's occurrence in both instances is for similar reasons.
Clovers typically begin to show up in pastures, and lawns, as a result of less competition from other forage or grass plants. We often see clover come on strong in August as it gets hotter and drier and the grass growth slows, thus allowing more sunlight to find the soil. In fact, assuming that grass growth will be slower in late summer, we often suggest to our lawn care people they cut their lawn grass higher to allow more shading in hopes of reducing the competition from clover.
This year's abundant volunteer clover crop is likely the result of a combination of things:
* The cooler than normal spring weather slowed grass growth enough early that the grasses offered less than normal competition for the clovers. This slow early growth also resulted in 1st cutting hay crop volume which was below normal in many parts of Ohio.
* In many cases we find grass stands in hay and particularly pasture fields have thinned out the past couple of years due to hot, dry late summers. Over grazing combined with a very dry fall in 2008 further thinned many stands of forage. This spring, in areas where more sunlight found the soil, we experienced an abundant clover crop.
Perhaps the take home message is two fold . . . enjoy and 'manage' the clover while you have it, but also it's likely to be time well spent during late summer and fall to assess and evaluate your forage stands for long term productivity.
Source: Stan Smith, PA, Ohio State University Extension