How to Kill Clover

How many four-leaf clovers have you found? You must be reading this because of this gem that you have in your lawn. Clover is lucky to some but a pain in the ass for a DIY Lawner. It seems to come out of nowhere, one day your lawn is great, next day you’ve got clover flowers all over. It can be so frustrating but once you understand it, it becomes easy to manage.

What is Clover?

Is part of the Pea family and has become popular in recent years as an alternative to a grass lawn due to it being lower maintenance and beneficial to bees. Clover is one of the few plants that obtains its nitrogen from the atmosphere. Well technically they have root bacteria that obtains nitrogen form the air and in turn converts it to a form that is available to the plant (All in one Breath!!). Wouldn’t it be great if we could manipulate these bacteria to attach to grass roots! After all air is 78% Nitrogen. Lightning is the closest thing we have to that. (Grass greens up after lightning storm because of electrically released nitrogen in soil from lightning strikes-not the amount of rain).

Anyway, for the avid lawn care enthusiast this is a pain because clover can easily stand out in a nutrient deficient lawn. Additionally, it can withstand drought conditions better and will grow at a significant rate compared to turfgrass. This is why it seems to “pop-up” all of a sudden.

How Do We Kill It?

First you need to apply a preemergent herbicide at beginning of the clover life cycle. Products like Mesotrione are great for clover seed control just after seed germination. During season after you have applied your preemergent, watch for patches of clover popping up in your yard. Treat each with a post emergent herbicide like Triclopyr, or Sulfentrazone, or any 3 way contact selective herbicide. Read my section on How to apply herbicides for further information.

Keep applying herbicide until you see complete knockdown. As a result, you may need to seed into the voids created by dying clover. Additionally, strengthening your lawn with frequent fertilizer application during this time is recommended in order to try and grow over dieback and to create a dense weed resistant sward. Keep repeating these processes until clover is only a lucky charm for your DIY success.