Clover Taking Over Yard

[curley1]

Clover has gradually been taking over the bermuda in our front yard. What can I do to kill it without killing the grass with it? It is so thick in places that I can't pull it by the root. If I pull the tops off, will it gradually die? Will it die out in winter or is there some treatment I can use to kill it once the Bermuda has gone dormant? Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

[Eden's Garden]

Well, it is funny to me when folks ask about killing something that is often sold to plant. Clover is one such plant. The cool season is the normal time it grows in heavily. The good news, it is a desireable plant for some folks as a cover crop in the winter. If the area is not too large to manage next spring, you may want to let it grow this winter, till the area up in spring and re-plant your grass. The clover adds nutrients to the soil when you do this. And gives you a very pretty natural flower bed!

Otherwise, if you must have grass this winter, the best thing is to dig it out, put the top 2" in the compost heap and fertilize the soil with a gentle texas tea or bioform type fertilizer, compost and then add grass. Seed is too late for this year, but sod will work just fine. Don't water at night though or you set yourself up for fungus at this time of the year.

[jrosto]

I had a plant in my lawn that I thought was clover, but was oxalis. It got very invasive. I spent a lot of time pulling to get rid of it.

One thing you can do this winter is to spray with vinager after your lawn goes dormant. Sometime between Christmas and New Years day should be good.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Oxalis is extremly responsive to spraying with vinegar. You might try spraying the clover after the bermuda goes dormant.

As an alternative, if you evenly seed the clover, it looks really good in the lawn.

Apparently you are not mowing your bermuda low? -or are you? I know clover can adapt to a low mowing, too, but quite often just mowing bermuda correctly at 1/2 inch or lower will keep most weeds out.

[curley1]

Thank you for your reply. Actually, we cut the bermuda high - 2 1/2 inches or so, so maybe that is part of the problem. Most of our neighbors keep the grass about that length, but we are the only organic gardeners, so they get rid of the clover with chemicals. If I spray the oxalis with vinegar after the grass is dormant, will the grass have brown spots in the spring or will it green up naturally. As you can probably tell, I'm very fussy about my yard. Again, I appreciate your help.

[jrosto]

If you spray the vinegar after the grass is completly dormant, it will not affect the grass.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Bermuda really does look 100x better when mowed shorter than 1/2 inch. Bermuda is a grass that you stand on, not in. Picture a golf green. That is bermuda at its best and all you have to do is set your mower that low. If you are using a rotary mower, I would also suggest looking into a reel type mower. Once the grass is mowed down low like that, the reel works like a charm. Even push type reel mowers are easy to maintain the turf.

[Cathleen]

We have the same problem as Curley 1 did. Clover is taking over our front yard & the bermuda grass. We are thinking of going back to the "other" chemical types of fertilizer. The molasses & cornemeal doesnt work. Any other suggestions would be appreciated before we go back to the old way.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

If it is really Dutch white clover and not oxalis or black medic, the clover makes a great lawn. Would you consider seeding more clover in so that it looks even?

You cannot pull clover to death. It thrives when mowed at just about any height.