Why you should broadcast red clover on your winter wheat

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Red clover plow down is a cheap source of nitrogen. Order some seed now.

by PAT LYNCH


High commodity prices, fertilizer shortages world-wide and dealers in Ontario buying product as they sell it are leading to increases in fertilizer prices for the 2011 crop. They will not be as great as the increases a few years ago, but expect to pay more for fertilizer in 2011 than you did in 2010.

If you are interested in getting a good buy on nitrogen, I can tell you where it can be found. It is sort of in your land. You can get this nitrogen if you follow one easy step.

Broadcast red clover on your winter wheat. Clover spread will now give you free nitrogen next year.

This trick is so old and simple that few people do it. It sort of falls into the category of "it is not new or a silver bullet, so it won't get done." It sure is not as slick or sexy as some of the other products that are being sold to help you reduce your nitrogen costs.

So why are more farmers not doing this? One of the reasons is because of uneven catches. But this can be remedied in a couple of ways. If you have access to manure, you spread it on areas with a poor catch. If you do not have access to manure, you can mark the poor areas either with flags, on a GPS or even by taking pictures of the poor areas. The next year spread extra nitrogen where there is no red clover. If you spread manure, then you spread phosphorus and potassium on the areas that did not get manure.

Another reason is the cost of seed. You can buy crop insurance to cover seed costs should the stand not catch, though there is a deductible. If you have a very poor stand, the insurance more than covers the seed cost. If you have a good stand, then the 50 or more pounds per acre of nitrogen covers the cost of the seed.

Another reason that growers do not spread red clover is because of weed control. The reality of weed control in winter wheat is that many weeds do not hurt yield. You can still spray a product like Buctril M and get a lot of broadleaf weed control. There was a time when we were delaying spraying red clover until the clover was at the first trifoliate.

Recent Ontario research shows that spraying red clover earlier than the first trifoliate does not hurt the stand.

The next reason given for not spreading clover is because it is hard to kill. It is hard to kill with glyphosate, but there are a number of other herbicides that you can add to glyphosate to kill the clover. Tillage is an effective way to kill clover. Most wheat stubble fields are worked before the next crop. This kills the clover.

Another reason not to use red clover is because of lack of suitable equipment to spread it, but there are numerous people with four-wheelers who will custom spread red clover for you.

When I started in agriculture in 1973, I remember talking to Howard Datars, president of Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement, about red clover under-seeded in wheat. He said he used to do it and, when I asked him why he quit, he said he didn't know. The next year he went back to under-seeding his wheat.

I talked to some of the folks at Pickseed. They have a good reputation for quality certified forage seed. I asked them what they promoted for red clover plow down. They said they promote Canada # 1 common red clover. I figure if common seed is good enough for Pickseed, it is good enough for us all.

Red clover plow down is a cheap source of nitrogen. Why are you not under-seeding all your wheat acres? Do you think nitrogen fertilizer is going to get cheaper? Order some seed now. BF

Consulting agronomist Pat Lynch, CCA (ON), formerly worked with the Ontario agriculture ministry and with Cargill.