This summer I have watched as white clover has taken over lawns across my region.  It has been like a rapidly advancing army of white Lilliputians bent on landscape domination.  I even sprayed some this spring hoping to fight back.  I did have some early success, but the stuff came back with a vengeance.  So I did some homework on the plant and this is what I learned.

First, white clover is your lawns way of saying, “Help!”  White Clover is a legume and as with all legumes it is capable of pulling nitrogen from the air and ‘fixing’ it or attaching it to its root system.  This Nitrogen is then available for the plant to use, but some of it gets broken down and added back to the soil.  In nature, white clover and other Nitrogen fixating plants move in when there is a shortage.  It is part of the whole miracle and awe of nature and a way to keep things balanced. Nature is using the clover to provide needed Nitrogen.

That said, the best way to control clover long term is to do a soil test and make sure that your lawn has everything it needs.  A good fall application of 19-19-19 fertilizer will have time to break down and get fully assimilated in the fall and winter months and reduce your problems next year.  By applying in the fall, you can also help insure that the application of nitrogen will not burn your lawn, and that you have adequate moisture to help the nutrient break down.

In the short term, you can use a broadleaf herbicide like 2,4-D, dicamba, and MCPP/MCPA.  A few words about these products: they are a broadleaf herbicide and will kill or injure almost any broadleaf plant. The good news is that they are safe for most lawns, the bad news is they can wreak havoc on flowers, shrubs, and trees.  Spot treat rather than broadcast, keep your sprayer nozzle to more of a stream or drip and keep it as close to the ground as possible to prevent drift to plants you like. Use when you know temperatures will remain below 85 degrees as excessive heat will reduce effectiveness and could volatize the chemical (convert it from a liquid to a gas).  Once it is volatized not only will you be watching the money you paid float into the air, but it can resettle on nearby plants and cause damage without you ever knowing it happened until it is too late.  I have seen an entire commercial tomato farm taken out by volatized 2,4-D.  The farm next to it was a beef operation; the farm sprayed his pasture for weeds.  However, the product volatized, drifted, and settled on the tomatoes; within a week every plant the tomato grower had was dead. So be careful and read and follow label direction.

If you are using 2,4-D I also recommend using a new product from Monty’s called NanoBoost.  It is will increase the effectiveness of 2,4-D and glyphosate based herbicides by helping more of these products get into the weed.  Learn more here.

Here are some brief tips on controlling white clover:

1. Do a soil test.  Check for pH levels and Nitrogen levels
2. Apply needed nitrogen in the fall.
3. Spot treat clover patches with 2,4-D or other herbicide. Follow all label directions
4. Herbicide treatments will be most effective in the fall, though summer applications can be made if temperatures will be below 85 degrees.
5. Apply herbicides and fertilizers when the lawn is well-watered and not stressed as they will take in more of the products.
6. Fertilizer regularly and encourage a good stand of healthy grasses.  Clover tends to move in to fill voids.

Editor’s Note:  I know that there is a growing group of proponents of ‘clover lawns’ who are anti-herbicides and pro-clover.  The above will be an anathema to them.  I believe in working with native grasses as much as possible which is why I am letting the bermuda take over what once was a fescue lawn. But I just personally can’t abide the clover invasion.

Share on Facebook