How To Get Rid Of Clover In Lawn

Understand The Life Cycle Of Clover And When Its Most Vulnerable To Weed Killers

How To Kill Clover In Your Lawn The Cheap Way

Clover is a perennial weed, which means it can live for more than two years. It typically flowers in early spring and again in late summer. Clover is most vulnerable to herbicides when its actively growing. This usually occurs in the spring and fall.

If you already have clover on your lawn, you can do a few things to get rid of it. One option is to spot treat the weeds with a herbicide. Be sure to read and follow the manufacturers instructions carefully when using any herbicide.

How To Identify Clover

Clover is a perennial plant that grows almost everywhere in lawns, alleys, flower beds, and even vegetable gardens. It is quite easy to identify with its leaves which are made up of three leaflets or its small white flowers in round clusters.

White clover is one of the most common weeds in gardens, it can grow in many different places, but it is especially found in sparse lawns where competition from grass is low. White clover grows in a creeping fashion and develops roots where a stem node touches the ground. The flowering period for clover begins in April and ends in September. The fight against clover must be done throughout the year.

Feed Your Lawn Regularly

The best thing you can do to prevent clover from growing on your lawn is to take good care of it. This way, there will be nowhere for the clover to grow.

Apart from regular mowing, aeration, and scarification, its especially important to feed your lawn on a regular basis.

Assuming there is no clover or other weeds on your lawn, you can mulch your grass clippings back into the soil, to provide your lawn with valuable nutrients.

You can also apply fertiliser in the spring and autumn, to help keep your lawn healthy and clover-resistant.

To learn more about taking good care of your lawn, take a look at our lawn care calendar, and discover what sorts of lawn care activities you can do as the seasons change throughout the year.

You May Like: 20 Volt Black And Decker Battery

Is Clover Ok In A Lawn

Clover can be OK in a lawn. It will be welcome if your aim is a wildlife garden, as it provides nectar for insects. And a lawn with flowers can be very desirable. Theres even a growing trend for clover lawns instead of grass versions. But if you want weed-free grass, then getting rid of clover from a lawn is necessary.

How To Get Rid Of Clover In A Lawn By Hand

How To Get Rid Of Crabgrass And Clover In The Lawn

It is possible to get rid of clover without resorting to anything more than your own efforts and some garden tools.

Simply use a hand fork to dig out the plants. Pluck the clover up, ensuring you have removed all the roots along with it, advises Samantha Richards of Gazeboshop . This method ensures you havent killed your grass, and is a cheaper method of removal than buying a new spray product.

Also Check: Toro Personal Pace Lawn Mower

How To Remove Clover From Your Lawn

Clover or trefoil are common names for flowering plants in the legume or pea family.

A number of clovers and clover-like species can be a persistent nuisance in lawns, especially as they have a strong resistance to weedkillers.

Clovers are perennial weeds which are easily recognised by their trifoliate leaves.

You can find clover all over your garden, especially on lawns.

How To Get Rid Of Yellow Clover

After dandelion, yellow clover is the most common type of weed that you may find on your lawn. It grows very aggressively and hampers the growth of grass and plants in the yard. If not controlled in time, it starts flowering and produces seeds that keep it regrowing.

You also need to identify if youre dealing with yellow clover or yellow woodsorrel. One way you can tell the difference is by looking at the leaves and foliage of the plant. Yellow Clover has much darker leaves that are a bit smaller than yellow woodsorrel.

Yellow Clover has interconnected roots that have several plants growing from a single source. To get started, you use a weed removal tool to uproot it from its root. While pulling, make sure you dig deeper into the ground and avoid breaking off the roots.

It may be possible to physically remove the yellow clover with its root if you have a small lawn, but in a large yard, this approach may not be practical.

In that case, you can use a herbicide such as Bonide Ready to use clover and other weed killers that kill the yellow clover without damaging the grass or other plants.

You can also apply high nitrogen into the soil during the spring and fall. As yellow clover-like to grow in a low nitrogen environment, the high nitrogen level in the soil prevents the growth of yellow clover.

Read Also: Humichar Lowes

Don’t Miss: Small Backyard Small Patio Ideas

Keep The Lawn In Good Health To Keep Clover Out

Keeping Clover out of our lawns, as well as most other weeds and diseases, is overwhelmingly a case of keeping the lawn as healthy as possible, including keeping up Nitrogen levels to the lawn soil.

If you havent already, begin implementing a good quality year-round organic lawn fertilising program.

This should be enough to help keep the lawn in good health and keep Nitrogen levels high enough in the soil that Clover will not take over again.

How To Get Rid Of Clover In Your Lawn Naturally

How to Get Rid of Clover in Your Lawn Without Killing the Grass

Some homeowners like clover in their lawn, but many dont. If white clover is springing up and creeping out in patches in your yard, there are several ways you can get rid of it. If youre interested in going green, theres good newsyou dont have to use harsh chemicals. There are a number of simple ways to get rid of clover in your lawn naturally.

This Old House has rounded up the best methods for getting rid of clover in your lawn naturally, some of which wont even harm your grass. Once youve eradicated your clover problem, The This Old House Reviews Team recommends hiring a professional lawn care company to keep your lawn healthy, hardy, and robustmuch less likely to attract clover. We recommend TruGreen, an industry leader that offers five annual programs and a la carte services.

Also Check: Prefab Backyard Guest House With Bathroom

Lsa All Purpose Weed Control

This is an all-purpose weed-killer that can keep control of most common weedsnot just your pesky clover! Its a ready-to-use herbicide agent specifically developed for use on home lawns. It even has a handy clip-on hose attachment, so its very easy to use.

If you have more questions about clover or the health of your lawn, our team at Coolabah Turf are more than happy to help. You can get in touch with us here.

What Are The Benefits Of Clover In A Yard

While many lawnkeepers think of clover as nothing more than a pesky weed, there are many benefits of clover to consider. Here are just a few.

  • Clover stays green longer than grass: Grass looks the best in spring and early summer, while clover will stay green from early spring to the first frost of the season. Consequently, winterizing your lawn wont be as challenging.
  • Clover is inexpensive: You can purchase a pound of white clover seed from your local plant or supply or hardware store for under $20.
  • Clover is a natural fertilizer: Clover is whats known as a nitrogen-fixer, which means that it injects nitrogen into the soil as it grows and spreads. This is the case with all plants in the legume family.
  • Clover grows quickly: Need groundcover in a jiffy? Turn to clover for a fast-growing and quick-spreading option.
  • Clover requires less mowing: Clover doesnt grow very tall, which means less frequent mowing during the warm-weather months.
  • Clover attracts beneficial insects: The bee population is threatened around the world, and without bees, many other parts of the food chain could be disrupted. Clover provides a safe, friendly environment for bees of all kinds, and butterflies as well.

Compare Quotes From Top-rated Landscaping Contractors

Free, No-commitment Estimates

Also Check: Above Ground Pool Ladders For Decks

Dish Soap Is What Kills Clover But Not Grass

If you are looking for a natural weed killer to kill off your clover problem, you can create a home made weed killer. Many gardeners have reported excellent results when used as a spot treatment.

To make this simple DIY weed killer spray, fill the spray bottle just shy of full with vinegar and add a few drops of dish soap. Shake the bottle to mix the ingredients.

Spray generously on clover as a spot treatment for clumps or use it as a spray for dandelions or other ugly weeds that sprout where you dont want them to. When spraying, do so with caution, as this weed killer may kill surrounding plants.

How To Get Rid Of Clover In My Lawn

How do I Get Rid of Clover After Weed Killers and Lime Have Failed?

Clover is a common weed that invades lawns that lack maintenance or nutrients. Although it unharmful for lawns, some people prefer to get rid of it for the simple reason that its white flowers attract insects. Getting rid of the clover once it’s established can be difficult, but with the right tools and patience you’ll get it done. In this article, we share different methods to help you get rid of clover and control it.

Also Check: Cheap Landscaping Ideas For Backyard

How To Kill Clover In Your Yard 2021

How To Kill Clover In Your Yard. Adios, an organic weed killer, will weaken and kill the clover in your lawn without harming any of your grass. Another simple solution to kill clover is to deeply water your lawn.

Applied to a lawn, corn gluten meal dries out seedlings, preventing the growth of clover and other plants. As said before, clover fixes nitrogen from the air but cant stand additional nitrogen.

Also Check: When To Fertilize Lawn In Maine

This Morning: Carol Klein Offers Advice On Gardening In Spring

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Clovers grow in most temperate and subtropical parts of the world, excluding Southeast Asia and Australia. The plants are useful as livestock feed and can also be used as green manure. The clover flowers are highly attractive to bees and clover honey is a popular by-product of clover cultivation.

Read Also: Small Backyard Pool Landscaping Ideas

Reason : Clover Prevents Weeds

We talk about mowing your lawn high to help prevent weeds. Mowing high helps prevent weeds because the taller the grass, the more it shades the surface of the soil and makes it difficult for weeds to establish. Clover, with its umbrella-like leaves, shades the soil better than blades of grass do, so it, creating a less optimal environment for weeds. If you have Clover in your lawn, you can even mow at a more normal mowing height . So, if you like mowing your lawn short, Clover can help you avoid having a million other weeds. See how the grass in the playing field of Microclover below has far fewer dandelions than the perimeter grass without Clover?

Hybrid Grass And Clover

How To Get Rid Of Clover In Your Lawn

Perhaps the best and simplest way to have clover in your yard is to allow a combination of grass and clover. Some grass seeds naturally include clover, so using one of these is an option. Or, you can simply seed your lawn with grass first and then clover. Grass and clover work well together, since clover infuses nitrogen into the soil, which makes for greener, healthier grass.

Whats more, while grass often yellows and dies in the hottest temps of summer, clover stays green, creating a better looking yard.

You May Like: Decks With Built In Benches

Natural Ways To Get Rid Of Clover In Lawn

Once you see clover growth in your grass, getting rid of it as soon as possible is important if you dont want it spread like crazy throughout the rest of your landscape. Remember, though, that these remedies may take a little more time to work effectively or require numerous applications over a couple of weeks.

Use The Clovers Lifecycle To Your Advantage

Unless you live in a warm climate, such as one of the states in Zones 8 through 10, your clover likely lies dormant in the winter. You can try putting down a preemergent herbicide, which works from the ground up to kill weeds and their shoots. Apply this product to your lawn in the fall, and it can help prevent several weeds from growing not just clover but also crabgrass and dandelions.

However, you may not know clover has taken root in your grass until it crops up in the spring. So while you probably want to use a preemergent herbicide, you will almost certainly need to have a post-emergentweed killer on hand in early spring, too. Post-emergents go on new plants in the spring and generally work from the leaves down to the root systems.

Read Also: Who Makes Craftsman Lawn Mowers

How To Kill Clover Without Chemicals

by Alec McClennan, on April 28, 2020

Does your lawn look like the lawn pictured below? Are you seeing a lot of white flowers in your lawn and don’t like the look of them? Maybe you’re concerned about the Clover attracting bees and making it more likely for your kids to get stung? If this is your lawn and you’d like to have more grass and less Clover, keep reading to learn more.

How To Remove Clover

Getting Rid of Clover

The most effective method of preventing clover from dominating your lawn is to maintain a dense and healthy lawn. Thick lawns are more easily able to crowd out weeds such as clover and prevent them from taking hold. .

There are also a few strategies you can try to get rid of existing clover in your lawn without using herbicides.

Feed you lawn well

Clover will flourish in lawns which have low nitrogen and fertility levels. Unfertilised grass gives clover an advantage as it can produce its own fertiliser, whereas grass cant. If there is sufficient nitrogen in your soil to keep your lawn healthy, the clover will struggle to survive. Clover will be much less of a problem if you fertilise your lawn with a good organic fertiliser during spring to ensure optimum nitrogen levels. To see Horsham Turfs range of lawn fertilisers, click here.

If youre not sure about your soils nitrogen levels, you can conduct a pH soil test to determine if nitrogen is lacking, or take a soil sample to your local lawn care provider to find out the same thing.

Mow high

It can be tempting to set your mower blades lower than normal to scalp the clover, but this will only stress your grass instead. Low-growing clover with its shallow roots has no problem being mowed short, although your grass wont love it. Mow high and leave your lawn over 3 inches tall, to give your grass the advantage. The longer grass will shade the weed and prevent it from growing.

Remove it by hand

Organic treatment

Don’t Miss: Wonder Of The Seas Deck Plans

Corn Gluten Meal Kills Clover

You can purchase corn meal gluten at your local garden centers or online. Kill grass and weeds naturally with this simple staple. The benefit of this method is that it doesnt affect any other plants growth, aside from the clover and weeds you want to eliminate.

How corn meal gluten works to inhibit clover is through dipeptides, which are released into the soil and dry out clover and other weed seeds. Dry seeds have a difficult time sprouting.

Use about 20 pounds of product for every 1,000 square feet of grass. After applying corn gluten, water thoroughly and allow to dry.

Tips To Kill Clover In Your Lawn Naturally

May 15, 2020

Organics

Clover is far from the worst weed to run into, as its relatively easy to kill using chemical herbicides. But what if you have children and pets who frequently play in your yard? The last thing you want to do is risk harming them by applying chemicals in their play area.

This is where natural clover herbicides can step in and handle weed control, sans chemicals. Below are four tips to kill clover in your lawn naturally without resorting to strong chemicals. Plus, you may already have some of these items sitting around the house.

You May Like: How To Get Rid Clover In Lawn

How To Control Clover

There are various further measures you can enact to control and prevent a clover lawn. These include:

  • Mowing high: Clover grows low to the ground. Adjusting your lawn care routine so you cut your grass at a higher height can help snuff out sunlight and prevent it from growing.
  • Take measures to prevent it from growing: In addition to mowing your lawn high, be sure to follow many of the tips we listed in this post, such as treating it with a pre-emergent, using a natural fertilizer and administering a herbicide at the first sign of clover growth.
  • Improve The Quality Of Your Turf

    How to Get Rid of Clover (4 Easy Steps)

    The most important factor in learning how to get rid of lawn weeds of all kinds is to ensure your grass is healthy. As David Hedges Gower, the founder of the Lawn Association says, clover is normally a sign of a poorly maintained lawn. For instance, it particularly thrives in nitrogen-poor ground.

    There are, however, some simple steps you can take to improve the conditions of your turf and the soil beneath.

    David says to start by looking at your soil. ‘Check the pH and see if it’s suitable to be growing grass,’ he says. In most cases, the optimal level is between 6.0 and 7.0. Soil that is too acidic can make it difficult for grass to grow, and easier for some types of clover. It can be balanced with soil amendments, such as lime.

    Also, ‘check your compaction levels,’ says David. ‘Clover often does well in poor soils that are very compacted, so start to hollow tine aerate your lawn at least once a year.’

    What’s more, if you’re creating a new lawn by planting grass seed, and want to reduce the risk of clover invading it, ensure you pick a good species that is weed-free. It’s worth paying extra for a better quality mix.

    ‘Feed the lawn using a high-quality lawn feed to further enhance the grass,’ he adds. You can find more spring lawn care tips and autumn lawn care tips in our guides.

    Improving the conditions of your lawn will help the grass, rather than the clover, to grow stronger

    Also Check: Backyard Landscape Ideas With Above Ground Pool