Mixing Clovers in food plots

Narrowed my clover selection down to arrowleaf and crimson, considering they mature at different times of the year, seems it would be best to do both of them.

Question is, should I plant them together or separate?

Thanks!

I wish I had an answer. Only clover I've planted was Alyce clover. Seed place told me to mix with my Red Ripper Cowpeas. PIgs came in and made such a mess of my plot not much came up. I may have planted my clover it too deep. Clover seeds are tiny, at least the ones I've planted are.

I mixed clovers in the Hill Country based off of growing season and maturity times. I mixed Madrid, Arrowleaf and Crimson clovers in plots. I also have seen Hubam, Red Rose and a few others mixed in for Hill Country soils. I like the Madrid since it could be planted in the fall and then grow into the next summer. It has a sweet smell but is not as palatable at first to the deer. Once the deer eat it they will keep it grazed shorter. Will not reseed itself under most conditions. It gets very tall... 5-6' under the right conditons. It smells very sweet and attracts bees. Hubam is another planted in the fall that will make seed and can reseed it self in May in my area. It can get tall also...waste high. Smells really sweet and is much more palatable to deer. Crimson grows in the fall and winter and blooms in the spring. Mine only got about 10-12" tall. Makes a lot of seed but not good at reseeding IME. If you want fall clovers that mature in early spring and can reseed then look into native Texas clovers and burr clovers. I mixed them all together and planted the same time. I would top dress the seeds over planted small grains in the fall or plant clovers with turnips in the fall. Even a few times clovers and alfalfa only in plots.

great info! thanks for the reply. was there a specific cultivar of clover they preferred? I've heard arrowhead is their preference.

how did they take to the alfalfa?

Yes you can and should mix them, if you have sandy/ loose soil just broadcast the seed.

Of the ones I planted they preferred the Hubam, Arrowleaf and Crimson at first over the Madrid. Back then the price of Madrid was so much cheaper I went to using it only with the turnips in my plots. At that point they had only had two choices so they at them both very well. The turnips grew good in the cooler season fall and winter months providing high tonnage of forage while the Madrid put down roots. The Madrid really started to grow good in early March and then came on in late April. By May I shredded the turnip tops and any weeds in the plots to a height of 8"-10" and the clover took off. It lasted until August some years for me. They really preferred the Alfalfa over any of them but it was expensive to plant for deer since I could only get less than a year before it was grazed out or the heat killed it. I planted a field of alfalfa which I could irrigate one year in late February. I put up an electric fence to keep the deer off it till late May then opened it up. The deer still wiped it out since it was only 3.5 acres. In the heat I just could not keep enough water on it since I had to water other fields of Lab Lab also. Grass got to be an issue and I just did not think the alfalfa would last even if I had tried to spray the grass to keep the competition down. I planted the clovers and turnips mixes altogether in the fall. I would get with my county extension agent and get his feedback on clovers for you area.

I only have experience with crimson. We pant mid September to 1st 2 weeks of October depending on the rain. We have had more on camera over the last 2yrs since adding it.

hope it helps.

Z

thank you. my dad was a county agent actually so he might have some pretty useful info, but he's never been much of a hunter.