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Posted by on May 28, 2008, 9:07 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options > George Abbot said:
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>
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>
>
> > Eggs Zachtly wrote:
> >> George Abbot said:
>
> >>> Our new Church (in Maine) has a very large lawn area on leveled, post-=
build-new-lot soil, which is not too good
> >>> (since the next addition will go there, eventually). It has spotty law=
n at the edges while the remainder is
> >>> flush with clover.
>
> >>> My current plan is to leave the clover until it seeds, then mow it to =
about 2-3" and allow grass to start
> >>> establishing itself. I would do this every year.
>
> >> The clover needs to have as much leaf surface exposed to the sun, as
> >> possible, in order to fix the nitrogen in the soil.
>
> >>> I want the clover since it adds nitrogen to the soil, but am I going d=
own the wrong path and is there a better plan?
>
> >> A couple notes about what the clover (or any other legume) actually doe=
s...
>
> >> 1. The legume takes in the nitrogen from the air and the soil. It's not=
in
> >> a form that plants can use, though. The legume doesn't even really do t=
he
> >> fixing. It's bacteria (Rhizobium) that lives in nodes on the roots of t=
he
> >> legume, that do all the work.
>
> >> 2. The bacteria turn the nitrogen gas into ammonia (NH3), that converts=
to
> >> ammonium (NH4), which /can/ be used by the plant. It's the same form as=
> >> ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) and ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) that is sold as=
> >> fertilizer.
>
> >> 4. You need a way to transfer the nitrogen to the surrounding grass. Ju=
st
> >> having the clover growing there, won't do the trick. You need either a =
herd
> >> of grazing livestock (they'll excrete the nitrogen all over the place [=
1]),
> >> and/or decomposition of the dead legume material. This means letting th=
e
> >> plant mature fully, die, and be absorbed back into the soil. You can sp=
eed
> >> this up by tilling the legume into the soil. But, that leaves you with:=
>
> >> 5. The nitrogen fixed by the legume is only going to be available to th=
e
> >> grass that immediately follows the legume's growing season.
>
> >> So, now you'll have a muddy field to seed/sod/water/water/pray/water/et=
c.
> >> Major renovation is a lot of work. ;)
>
> >> [1] This is good... 80-90% of the nitrogen will be absorbed, processed,=
and
> >> pass through the animals. The bummer is, about 50% of what passes throu=
gh,
> >> will be lost through evaporation.
>
> >> [...]
>
> >> HTH, I know a lot of people that think that just having clover in an ar=
ea
> >> is good for the grass. It is, but there's a whole lot more to it than t=
hat.
> >> =3D)
>
> > So, go for the mow? It seems like that is your suggestion. Forget the cl=
over and mow for eventual grass.
>
> You stated reasons for having the clover in the lawn. I was simply trying
> to point out the "why's" of having clover in a lawn in the first place, an=
d
> what you'd need to do to take advantage of what a legume does. Mowing it
> low does little good (and is probably detrimental to the benefits of havin=
g
> the clover). It's probably best to just kill it off, as any other weed.
>
> > What if the clover was left for the season? Is that a good or bad idea?
>
> Did you not read my first reply?
>
> The best way to take advantage of the nitrogen fixation, is to let the
> clover mature fully, die, and decompose back into the soil. It doesn't put=
> ten years of nitrogen back into your soil. It's like doing one application=
> of N to your lawn.
>
> Please adjust your word-wrap. Thanks.
> --
>
> Eggs
>
> -Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.- Hide quoted =
text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Also, I would not just mow and pray for grass to establish itself.
Some kind of mix of weeds and grasses will eventually take over. But
most of those grasses are not ones that i would want to look at. If
you want grass, buy a high quality seed appropriate for the conditions
and seed it in the Fall.
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