White Clover Seed - Medium Leaf - Conventional Untreated

Medium Leaf White Clover (Trifolium repens)

White clover is one of the most beneficial legumes in farming. Due to its creeping growth habit it can spread itself around and fill gaps in pastures and will last many years. Medium leaved varieties have a good balance of persistence and yield. Mixture of small and medium leaf varieties is recommended for sheep and cattle grazing. Mixture of medium and large leaf varieties is recommended for grazing cattle and for silage.

Special Features:

• Long term nitrogen fixation.
• Spreads by a network of creeping stems close to the surface.
• Cutting stimulates the roots to grow more and fix more nitrogen.
• It is part of the legume family so treat as such for crop rotation purposes.
• Supplies nitrogen to grass in a pasture but will not take over the sward in summer. The grass in the sward will not be thinned out due to the clover.
• High protein forage which is key to good milk and meat production.
• Bees love white clover.
• Long lasting perennial.

Management:

• Not fussy about soil type but requries decent fertility (Index 3 for P & K) and a pH above 6 to do well.
• Seed is tiny so should be broadcast or shallow drilled no deeper than 1cm. The ground should be rolled afterwards to get good soil contact with seed. Can also be over-sown to introduce into existing pastures.
• Tolerates close grazing.
• Manage grazing/cutting so as grasses don’t dominate clover in the early stages.

Click here to read a Teagasc guide to White Clover.