How and when to fertilize clover

Clover is a fast-growing creeping herb characterized by having trifoliate leaves. There are many species within which they can be found with white, yellow and pink flowers. In some cases it can be considered as a weed, especially if it grows on our lawn, but it is also very common that it is grown for decoration in the garden. Its cultivation can occur both indoors and outdoors. In this post we will see how to apply clover fertilizer, what type to use and when to apply it.

Although it is very rare to find them, there are four-leaf clovers, which are considered good luck. But according to studies it was determined that for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers there is only one with four leaves. Hence the difficulty of finding one.

1. How to care your clover plant

The care that any clover plant needs is not complex, they develop so easily that if you are not careful they can end up being a pest in your garden. In any case, and as it is always good to know some basic care, we will quickly review them in this section.

• Location: can be grown both indoors and outdoors. In the case of exterior, it is advisable to find a place with good lighting, where a lot of sunlight enters. Outdoors you should also look for places with a lot of sun exposure, and preferably place it in a pot, to better control its growth.

• Watering: you must water every time you see that the upper substrate has dried. Depending on the rainfall regime, you may need to water twice in summer and only once in winter. Never cause waterlogging.

• Planting and transplanting: these tasks are done during the spring. If you have it in a pot it is good to switch to another pot when you start to see roots coming out of the holes.

• Multiplication: multiplication is done by seeds, which are sown in spring.

• Pests and Diseases: Snails may be the most common among pests, as they love to eat clover leaves. In case of disease, it is quite vulnerable to Puccinia oxalidis, known as clover rust, which is a fungus.

• Fertilization: sometimes it may not be necessary to carry out any type of fertilization. In any case, we will analyze this point in greater depth in the following sections.

2. Nutrients and Micronutrients required

Among the nutrients it needs most for its development are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. As for nitrogen, it is able to extract it from both the soil and the atmosphere, so it is generally not necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers.

As for micronutrients, there are many you need, we can name the following; sulfur, calcium sulfate, boron, iron, zinc, etc. Depending on the characteristics of the soil, it may have these micornutrients to a greater or lesser extent.

Always before starting any fertilization plan it is good to carry out a soil analysis. This will allow you to know the concentration of nutrients, thus being able to define whether or not it is necessary to fertilize and with what type of fertilizer to do it.

2.1 What do NPK values mean?

If we talk about the nutrients necessary for a clover and its fertilization, we will surely end up naming NPK values. In case you don’t know what they are, I’ll quickly summarize it in this section.

NPK values are three numbers that represent the concentration of the main nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) within a fertilizer. More specifically, each number is the percentage by weight of each of these nutrients with respect to the total weight of the fertilizer.

NPK values are three numbers that represent the concentration of the main nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) within a fertilizer.

For example, if you have a bag of 0-15-20 fertilizer at home, it means that the fertilizer has 0% nitrogen, 15% phosphorus, and 20% potassium. Pretty simple concept, don’t you think?

3. Best liquid fertilizer for clover

In general, whenever we recommend fertilizers for a plant, we try to give it both organic fertilizers and commercial fertilizers. Due to the characteristics of clover and its ease of growth, we will only recommend commercials, on which we can have a better control of the nutrients that we apply.

The most common fertilizers that you will need to apply are those that have very low or no nitrogen concentration, and that have a good amount of phosphorus. We can mention some fertilizers with the following NPK values; 5-10-5, 10-20-10, 0-20-20.

These fertilizers for clover can be obtained in liquid or granular formats. Depending on how you are growing this herb, you may find it more convenient to apply one type of fertilizer or another.

4. How and when to fertilze clover

The first thing you should do is carry out a soil study, thus determining the proportions of nutrients and the pH value. It may be that the soil already has high levels of a certain nutrient. And if you do not analyze and then continue adding more amounts of said nutrient when fertilizing, it will affect your clovers.

We already said that clover is capable of fixing its own nitrogen, so it is very difficult that it may need greater contributions of this nutrient. But after conducting the soil study it may be necessary to apply some potassium, phosphorus and some micronutrients.

We already said that clover is capable of fixing its own nitrogen, so it is very difficult that it may need greater contributions of this nutrient.

In a soil poor in nutrients such as potassium and phosphorous, you may need a 0-20-20 fertilizer, with a fairly common rate of 300 pounds / acre. This dose must be divided throughout the year. In general, the first application is made during sowing, making the rest of the applications from spring to autumn.

Keep in mind that the pH of the soil should be close to 6. If you need to raise the pH, you can do it by adding limestone. While if you want to lower it, sulfur can be of great help. For more information at the end of the article we will leave a link to a complete article on this topic.

5. Special cases

Clover growing, whether indoors or outdoors, is widespread, so when you start writing an article on this topic you find that people ask a lot of specific queries. Although it is difficult to cover each and every one of them, I have selected two, which I will develop in this section.

5.1 Fertilizer for clover lawn

Using clover as a cover on our lawn has many advantages, among which we can mention:

• Its cultivation is simple.

• Clover has the ability to fix nitrogen, so it does not need large amounts of fertilizers.

• It is capable of growing both in full sun and in half shade.

• Its ability to withstand droughts is very good. Not being necessary to apply large amounts of irrigation

• It’s economic.

• It can be used in a mixture with grass (15% clover – 75% grass).

Using clover on your lawn, you will save money on fertilizers and have a more sustainable lawn. With less need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Having a well-maintained lawn will always require large amounts of fertilizers. But as we saw in this post, clover is not demanding with fertilization. Therefore, by using clover on your lawn, you will save money on fertilizers and have a more sustainable lawn. With less need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

5.2 Fertilizer for white clover

Both white and red clover are the most widely cultivated varieties. Hence, they are widely consulted on how to fertilize specifically these varieties.

The truth is that there is no specific key to fertilizing white clover. You can do everything we saw in general in this post and you will be doing the right thing.

6. Fertilizer for clover food plots – Video

As is usual in this blog, we like to end each article with a video. In this case we have taken it from the Don Mealey’s Hunting Channel, in it you can see everything about the Fertilizer for clover food plots. You will see that it will be very useful to deepen something more on the subject.

More information:

• Changing pH in Soil – ucdavis.edu.

• Using clover as an eco-sustainable alternative to grass – rei.rutgers.edu.

• White Clover – hawaii.edu.