Lawn covered with Clover / weak and patchy grass

bbari

Its the third year that we have moved in to this house (new build). Lawn was full of rocks and I literally filled in 1 black bin with rocks. That was done in year 1.

I aerated the lawn last year, used 10.10.20 few times and also put g. lime in Sep/Oct. I spread 10.10.20 in April this year. The grass was looking good and I was mulching it every 6/7 days. For the past three weeks, it hasn't grown at all and the clover has taken over. I don't want to throw 10.20.20 at it again in case it does more harm than good?

is Sulphate of Iron the solution?

What else should I do to get rid off the clover, make the grass healthier and bring it to semi ideal (if not ideal) conditions? I could be doing something wrong as I'm novice in this area.


Please help!








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drunk_monk

I've exactly the same problem after spending hours leveling and spreading grass seed. As well as patches of clover I've also got a spreading plant with yellow flowers. Would love to know how to rectify it, at the moment I'm on my hands and knees pulling it up.

magicbastarder

what's wrong with clover? it's leguminous, easy to look after.
it gets a bad rap it most certainly does not deserve.

my3cents

+1 for Clover. Maybe if you have a bowling green that you cut everyday with a cylinder mower then get rid of the clover but for the average lawn its doing no harm and fixes nitrogen so is actually doing some good. I do however find it a pain where it grows over the edge of the lawn and into flower beds.

drunk_monk

Guy's we are looking for advice on how to get rid of it, but thanks for your input all the same.

KingNerolives

Spray with roundup, cut it very low , rake it to remove dead crap. Sprinkle lawn seed and a bit of fert and they're gone.

testicles

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bbari

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's wrong with clover? it's leguminous, easy to look after.
it gets a bad rap it most certainly does not deserve.

my3cents wrote: »

+1 for Clover. Maybe if you have a bowling green that you cut everyday with a cylinder mower then get rid of the clover but for the average lawn its doing no harm and fixes nitrogen so is actually doing some good. I do however find it a pain where it grows over the edge of the lawn and into flower beds.

I suppose its personal preference, I would prefer to have lush green grass over the clover and will appreciate if you can point me in the right direction.

Thank you.

drunk_monk

I've tried keeping the grass cut short but that hasn't work. I've just been reading you need to cut the grass as high as possible (up to 3 inches) as this then suffocates the clover. I think I'll try that next, along with a herbicide that won't kill the grass.

drunk_monk

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yeah that's the last resort all right, hopefully I won't have to go down that road again though.

OUTDOORLASS

Do not use Roundup as mentioned above. It kills EVERYTHING. Grass included.

my3cents

Guys the problem isn't the way you cut or anything much to do with the clover its that the growing conditions for the grass are very poor. This could be too alkaline, poor impoverished soil, thin soil over builders rubbish etc etc as a result you are growing the crop that will grow best in your conditions - clover.

Assuming you can't do anything about the depth of soil then Ammonium Sulphate as a nitrogen fertilizer will favor grass growth over the clover so is a good start - just don't over do it. Treatments with Iron Sulpahte can also be effective (lawn sand) again don't over do it! Both will make the soil more acid which clover doesn't like.

Then the selective weed killers dicamba, mecoprop-P, and fluroxypyr are effective against many clovers. Verdone - now remaned Weedol Lawn Weedkiller would be the only one I can think of that is readily available to amateur gardeners. Follow the label instructions and again don't over do it. I keep saying that as I have seen a few disasters that have occurred on the bases that twice as much must be twice as good.

snowstreams

drunk_monk wrote: »

I've tried keeping the grass cut short but that hasn't work. I've just been reading you need to cut the grass as high as possible (up to 3 inches) as this then suffocates the clover. I think I'll try that next, along with a herbicide that won't kill the grass.

I had a lot of clover in my grass at first but I dont cut my grass very short anymore and ive noticed that my clover has died back and grass with a few other weeds have taken over.
So if you let it grow long, make sure to use a non grass specific herbicide to avoid taller weeds like dandelions taking over.

bbari

my3cents wrote: »

Assuming you can't do anything about the depth of soil then Ammonium Sulphate as a nitrogen fertilizer will favor grass growth over the clover so is a good start - just don't over do it. Treatments with Iron Sulpahte can also be effective (lawn sand) again don't over do it! Both will make the soil more acid which clover doesn't like.

Cheers. I'll go to the Whites in Lusk, Co. Dub and see what have they got.

shane b

Dicophar is a weedkiller for lawns that doesnt kill the grass. I've read that about 1.5 - 2 inches is the best height setting to mow at. Also fertilizer wise 7/6/17 might work better as the nitrogen contents not as high.

my3cents

shane b wrote: »

Dicophar is a weedkiller for lawns that doesnt kill the grass. I've read that about 1.5 - 2 inches is the best height setting to mow at. Also fertilizer wise 7/6/17 might work better as the nitrogen contents not as high.

The point of using the suphates is that they also change the soil ph making it more acid, with a compound fertilizer you have no idea what ph change it will make.

That green you see on sports fields particularly golf greens is often the result of the use of quite a lot of Iron Sulphate.

Mooooo

A general herbicide like grazon pro will kill the clover and not the grass. Clover grows better than most grass in periods of dry weather. Rain comes and the grass will compete again. The clover must have come in the grass seed. Don't use roundup unless you want to kill everything including grass and reseed it after.

Mooooo

What may help is granulated lime, can be bought in 50kg bags rel cheaply. Keep it dry and in a shed and it will last fine. The rate commonly put out would be 3 bags to the acre so work back from that to your garden side. If you wanted to you could soil test a 30 euro one would give you it's ph, phosphorus and potassium levels. Dearer ones give other info then.

bbari

Mooooo wrote: »

A general herbicide like grazon pro will kill the clover and not the grass. Clover grows better than most grass in periods of dry weather. Rain comes and the grass will compete again. The clover must have come in the grass seed. Don't use roundup unless you want to kill everything including grass and reseed it after.

Agreed, the lawn was looking really good untill to two weeks ago. The clover have taken over in the last two weeks of dry spell.

Mooooo wrote: »

What may help is granulated lime, can be bought in 50kg bags rel cheaply. Keep it dry and in a shed and it will last fine. The rate commonly put out would be 3 bags to the acre so work back from that to your garden side. If you wanted to you could soil test a 30 euro one would give you it's ph, phosphorus and potassium levels. Dearer ones give other info then.

This was suggested last year so I bought a big bag last year and used it twice. Then I read that the lime encourages the clover! " lime is partly a solution to a problem caused by nitrogen fertiliser use, which itself is used to push the productivity of agricultural land. So not really applicable to lawn maintenance unless you're trying to address a specific problem with very acid soil."

magicbastarder

IIRC, clover is much more drought tolerant than grass, so maybe it's not a surprise that it's taken advantage of the dry spell. a bit of water may help the grass fight back.

Mooooo

Nitrogen applied can increase the acidity of soil, lime helps to counter that and can help to condition the soil. The reason clover grows better in dry spells is that it fixes it's own nitrogen from the air. Clover prefers higher temperatures which is why it doesn't grow much in spring or autumn but If it takes over what will happen is there will be bare patches in the lawn come autumn. If it has taken over too much it may be a case of reseeding it.
Lime is prob best applied in the autumn. Soil sample would be the handiest way as cuts out the guess work. could use 0.10.20 instead of 10.10. 20 but as I said it's the grass that would benefit from nitrogen as the clover can get it's own. You could cut high but that would leave a chance for other weeds to grow and if you go spraying them you'll kill the clover anyway so prob as well just to spray the clover off

KingNerolives

Alternatively if you have a few cats , their poop is quite alkaline so it may help keep clover away.

delboythedub

I have used a electric scarifier on a freshly cut lawn a few times to get rid of weeds an then throw a bit of grass seed on lawn and water it a few times late in the evening's.don't forget to feed it Worked for me.

cd07

my3cents wrote:

Assuming you can't do anything about the depth of soil then Ammonium Sulphate as a nitrogen fertilizer will favor grass growth over the clover so is a good start - just don't over do it. Treatments with Iron Sulpahte can also be effective (lawn sand) again don't over do it! Both will make the soil more acid which clover doesn't like.

Great advice. Clover can produce it's own nitrogen therefore does not require it the way grass does. As said above spray it off with selective weedkiller then keep overseeding with grass seed as well as a nitrogen rich fert. Eventually the grass will outcompete the clover.