Hello,
I have very sandy soil (live near the beach) and wanted to improve it by adding crimson clover as a green cover crop around my fruit trees. I compost extensively and have planted comfrey for the same reason. We don’t have many deer but see them occasionally. Will crimson clover make my yard a deer magnet? We also have wild turkeys.
I have to say if you walk in your grass a lot crimson clover does get MASSIVE compared to white clover. I have been pushing my crimson clover back out with microclover which i am enjoying far more.
Deer here enjoy eating crimson clover.
White clover might be a better fit if deer are even occasionally around. Crimson is tastier to them and once they find it they’ll keep coming back. For sandy soil improvement you’d get more long term benefit from comfrey anyway since the deep roots actually pull nutrients up from below. Clover fixes nitrogen which is great but on sand it washes through pretty quickly without something to hold it.
Fruit trees will make your yard a deer magnet, so might as well plant clover to improve the soil. Clover will also make your yard a magnet for bees which is good for the orchard. I personally prefer red clover (which is actually purple) to crimson clover. Crimson clover to me is not as showy and doesn’t flower as prolifically. It’s also been tougher to establish but that’s probably very location specific. Dutch white clover and red clover make a nice pairing.
I’ve used crimson clove the last 2 springs to cover crop where I plant winter squash. It’s beautiful! I don’t have heavy deer pressure, but they do pass through and don’t eat it. But, I don’t have destructive deer in my city area. 10 mins out is a different story.
We used to use crimson clover in between nursery tree rows simply as a cover crop and provide nitrogen to the trees.
It’s an annual clover so it needs reseeded for good stands year after year. The plants live one cycle. It’s hard seeded so some seeds can lay dormant for a year or two. You will need to prep the soil and replant. You may be able to broadcast it back in. We frost seed a lot if clovers.
It’s beautiful in bloom and has good tonnage. Deer will eat it, but it’s not a super draw for them anymore than other clovers.
We found it hard to manage and work back into the ground to replant. If it matures and drys it like trying to mow rope. It gets about 18” tall and is upright. You have to plow it in green.
I think you may be happier with a vining type like white Dutch or red clover that comes up each year and is perennial.
It is beautiful when it blooms.
I think the best cover crop, is Italian diploid rye grass. We would inter seed it with crimson clover. It would do well in sandy soils and the roots are what makes a difference. They go 3’+ deep and have tremendous biomass. It’s an annual. It will reseed itself, so it could become a weed. Great ground cover. We would run two crops of it, and plow it in then use Diacom radishes the fall before planting trees. It really mellowed the soils.
Thank you; I really appreciate your well considered answer. Our soil here is very sandy, so I am always looking for organic ways to improve it. I used to get seaweed that had washed up on the beach, but they made that illegal in this state! Can you imagine?!?
Anyway, I appreciate your insight. I will mix some red clover in with my white. I have been using daikon radish–they are amazingly tough!
Clover is used in food plots for deer if that helps answer your question.. however i am trying to understand myself white clover and i think i have been doing it wrong.
I have been trying to get all of my walkways covered in white clover but i have been letting them get too tall i think.
I learned from looking at my neighbors lawn which is what i want..but he hates. He is an ultra diligent mower..whereas i am the opposite and only mow before it rains for the mulch benefits.
His lawn is nearly a full carpet of gorgeous white clover..
So i did my own homework and was surprised-
White clover (Trifolium repens) is the variety that thrives the more it is mowed or grazed. Mowing triggers this plant to send out horizontal stems called “stolons” (runners). These nodes root into the ground, causing the clover to spread outwards, thicken, and grow back lusher and more resilient than before.
So.. going forward i need to mow more. to achieve what i want.
There are differing varieties of White Clover as well.
I don’t think you want a pure stand of clover as I dies out in the winter, and can get a little greasy in the spring. Its not pleasant to work in if kept tall. Be like your neighbor and have enough grass in it so it’s not so muddy in the winter. If you get a winter where you are.
White Dutch clover grows about everywhere. You won’t need any nitrogen for it or your grass. It invades areas low in nitrogen as it can fix its own.
I wanted heavy clover in my orchard with grass, but I spray. So I want as few bees around as possible after petal drop.
I suggest you use a slow growing non endophyte perennial rye grass/clover mix. Thats if you want some grass.
The point about mowing frequency is a good one. I let my white clover get too tall between the fruit trees last year and it was a soggy mess after rain, impossible to walk through without soaking your boots. This year I’m keeping it shorter and mixing it with some grass so there’s always something holding the ground even in winter when the clover dies back. Looks way better and still fixes nitrogen without being a headache to manage.