Introduction

Clover, undoubtedly, is an obstinate type of plant. Many homeowners and gardeners, from amateur to professional ones, have been trying restlessly to terminate clover. Yet, not every one of them can succeed in this difficult task.

If you happen to be one of those gardeners struggling to protect your beloved lawn from the invasion of clover, this will be an extremely helpful guide for you. But before knowing how to get rid of clover, we must understand some facts about this plant.

Some Facts about Clover

Botanical Classification

Clover refers to three-leaf plants coming from the genus Trifolium, a branch of the family Fabaceae – or leguminous family. Trifolium comprises a diverse range of species, with over 300 sorts of plants. However, the most common type you encounter is the one having white flowers called White Clover.

Biological Features

The good

Despite being hated by gardeners, clover actually brings many agricultural benefits.

Clover is extremely helpful in crop rotation as it is a perfect source of nitrogen. As it decomposes, clover can be used to make compost. It also contains a large amount of protein and, therefore, is used for livestock forage. In addition, clover’s flowers easily attract pollinators like honey bees and accelerate the pollination.

The Bad

Although being a perfect plant in agriculture, clover makes many homeowners frustrated for its obstinacy. Despite many efforts, many cannot fully eliminate clover. This perennial weed grows back faster after every time being mowed and eventually take over the entire lawn.

Moreover, clover’s attractiveness to stinging insects can cause harmful, even fatal, effects to human, especially the ones having allergies to insects.

Excellent Ways to Get Rid Of Clover

#1 Supplying Sufficiently Fertilizers

Clover thrives in a low-nitrogen environment. Therefore, provide your lawn with nitrogen-rich fertilizers will strengthen your lawn’s ability to fight clover. Although not being capable of eliminating clover, this method can considerably lower clover’s growing pace.

Typically, the amount of fertilizer you need varies from 2 to 4 lbs. per 1000 square feet based on the type of grass in your lawn. Organic compost will work just fine if your lawn only has to deal with the small amount of clover. If clover aggressively takes over the lawn, however, you should use the chemical fertilizers which take less time to diffuse.

#2 Softening The Soil

Another way to interfere with clover’s growth is improving soil’s structure. This can be done by regularly top-dressing as well as aerating the lawn on a yearly basis.

Additionally, making the soil softer can also create a better environment for other grass and flowers to develop.

#3 Adjusting Soils pH

In places that are majorly occupied by clover plants, the soil pH is often low; in other words, the soil filled with clover usually has slightly higher acidity. In contrast, the vast majority of plants can only adapt with moderately neutral soil pH, ranging from 6.5 to 7.0.

Limestone

By testing soil pH with necessary tools and adding limestones to your lawn, you can balance the acidity in the soil thereby creating a more ideal environment for the grasses to grow and providing the turf with more strength to rival clover for soil nutrients.

Vinegar

On the other hand, you can raise the soil’s acid to the level that lies beyond clover’s endurance. One natural solution, which is highly praised by homeowners, is using vinegar combined with dish soap.

All you need to do is to mix a gallon of vinegar with an ounce of dish soap, put the composition into a spray bottle and spray it on clover. You should be careful not to create collateral damage by avoiding spraying the compound on surrounding plants.

#4 Utilizing Herbicide

This is the ultimate method that will effectively get rid of clover. Weed controls which are widely consumed by the average user cannot be success in every circumstance, especially the granular weed controls.

Broadleaf herbicides, however, are strongly recommended for comprising chemical substances such as Dicamba, Mecoprop, and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. These compounds can create severe impacts on clover’s development, twisting the weed, crashing its stem, and making its leaves cup.

Spraying herbicides freely on your lawn can harm surrounding plants. Therefore, you should bear in mind to use them directly to clover.

#5 Employing Plastic

Virtually every type of plant needs sunlight and oxygen to thrive. Therefore, you can prevent clover from claiming your lawn by depriving it of that two growing factors.

To execute this method, you need to use a plastic sheet to cover clover, fix the sheet’s corners to save it from being blown by the wind. The result usually appears in several weeks. Nevertheless, you should use this method only when clover has claimed a large area of the lawn. Otherwise, other plants may also be affected.

#6 Using Corn Gluten

Utilizing corn gluten meal is a natural and easily-done process to kill clover. A bag of corn gluten meal is obtainable in many gardening stores and nurseries. This natural herbicide can prevent clover from sprouting by emitting dipeptides – organic compounds exist in protein – and making clover seeds to dry.

A huge benefit of this method is that corn gluten meal does not create harmful effects on surrounding plants on the lawn, thereby eliminating gardeners’ fear of their plants being damaged. Besides, as corn meal decomposes, it further benefits the plants by providing them nitrogen and other valuable nutrients.

#7 Removing Clover Manually

Clovers have the ability to grow and reproduce at a fast rate as well as to rapidly spread them on the ground. As soon as you notice clover growing in an undesirable spot, try to spade to the soil surrounding the clover and pull it up. Taking this action enable you to control the clover trouble at early stages.

Note that in order to fully remove a clover, you must remember to drag of its parts from the ground, including roots. Indeed, doing this step can help you prevent a clover from quickly growing back from its remaining roots.

Conclusion

Although clover is a stubborn type of plant, it can be managed and even eliminated from your lawn. The most important things to achieve a clover-free lawn is to strictly follow the mentioned methods and be patience as it generally takes time for all of them to show results.

I hope this article has provided you with a comprehensive guide to getting rid of clover. If you have any thought about the above information or another method to eliminate clover, please share them in the comment section. Thank you very much for reading.