Clover, Brassicas and Mowing

Brow_Tine

Member
I have several established clover plots. If i were to broadcast some chicory in it to enhance the plot(s) can it still be mowed? Or will it stunt or kill off the chicory?


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It never hurt mine, but I mowed pretty high. How tall is your chicory relative to your clover ?
 
The clover last year was 8-10" (Ladino) I mow it to just clip of the top couple of inches, Last year was the first establishing season for the plots


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Even if you clip the tops of your chicory, I can't see it being harmful. After all, that's what the deer are gonna do.
 
What type of mower do you guys use to mow clover? I have tried with my brush hog and it always seems to brown up and die after I mow it. Tried my zero turn set to the highest setting same result brown and dead after mowing.
 
I mow with a John Deere D110 rider. I have 3 "pin" setting on the deck. I raise the deck up as high as that will allow me and then I raise the deck with the arm to the highest it will go. Usually a 7-8" cut. I ran into issues with browning as well and someone suggested to mow before it rains or after it rains to alleviate the stress on the clover. I try to do that as much as I can but life gets in the way and sometimes I have to mow when time allows.


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What type of mower do you guys use to mow clover? I have tried with my brush hog and it always seems to brown up and die after I mow it. Tried my zero turn set to the highest setting same result brown and dead after mowing.

I don't own a tractor and all of my plots are 1 acre or less. I have a Swisher rough cut trailcutter that I pull with my ATV. I usually mow my clover on the highest setting, which is about 7". That said, I bet there are literally thousands of clover food plots that are successfully mowed with a tractor and a PTO driven brush hog. Avoiding the temptation to mow when conditions are hot and dry is important.

I know not everyone agrees, but Dr. Craig Harper suggests only mowing once a season in late summer...

https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsess...ars-lengthening-the-life-of-clover-food-plots

ABOUT MOWING

Craig Harper was the first habitat management expert I ever heard begging hunters to leave the Bush-hog in the shed. More good wildlife habitat is destroyed by indiscriminate mowing, he said, than most hunters realize. Neither does he believe that mowing is a primary technique for managing clover food plots.

“Mowing definitely has a place in your perennial food plots, but you can save yourself a lot of time mowing if you spray the correct herbicide at the correct time,” he said. “You can spend a lot of time mowing and still have lots of weeds, or you can spray about twice per year and mow once and have much better results.”

“With the exception of mowing weeds that have gotten too mature to be susceptible to herbicide, I only mow my perennial plots once a year, and that’s generally in August. It’s the end of the growing cycle, the clover and chicory have flowered and produced seed, and most people would say the plot looks ragged. I’m mowing a few scattered weeds, a little bit of clover, and chicory bolts. The production period of the plot is over. I’m getting it prepared for fall growth. Come October, it will look great.”

Craig notes the management timing and forage production period is different in the north where perennial clovers act realistically as a warm-season crop, producing throughout summer.

This advice on mowing differs from some food plotters, who believe in mowing clover when it is at its most productive.

“It’s a myth that you have to mow in order to have a nutritious clover plot,” said Craig. “That’s just wrong. If the clover is doing well in May and June and deer are eating it, let them eat it. Don’t mow it! The nutritive value of a perennial clover leaf that is 4 weeks old compared to one that is 8 weeks old during this time is negligible for white-tailed deer. You worked hard to produce 4,000 pounds per acre of high-quality clover and chicory. Why wake up one Saturday morning in June and mow down three-quarters of it? It doesn’t make sense! Wait until after the forages produce seed before you mow. Unfortunately, many people mow because they want to get outside and do something to manage the land. If they would redirect their effort to other management activities, they would be much more successful in reaching their habitat management objectives for deer.”

Craig’s once-a-year mowing often takes place the same time he needs to top-dress the plot, so both tasks can be tackled in one visit.
 
I never mowed more than the very top of my clover and never mowed it when it was stressed. In light of the hot summers we have, I imagine early June was probably as late as I ever mowed, and it never browned or suffered in any way. By late July or early August, mine was toast, but not from mowing. Perennial clovers that I've used won't take our heat.
 
I don't own a tractor and all of my plots are 1 acre or less. I have a Swisher rough cut trailcutter that I pull with my ATV. I usually mow my clover on the highest setting, which is about 7". That said, I bet there are literally thousands of clover food plots that are successfully mowed with a tractor and a PTO driven brush hog. Avoiding the temptation to mow when conditions are hot and dry is important.

I know not everyone agrees, but Dr. Craig Harper suggests only mowing once a season in late summer...

https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsess...ars-lengthening-the-life-of-clover-food-plots

ABOUT MOWING

Craig Harper was the first habitat management expert I ever heard begging hunters to leave the Bush-hog in the shed. More good wildlife habitat is destroyed by indiscriminate mowing, he said, than most hunters realize. Neither does he believe that mowing is a primary technique for managing clover food plots.

“Mowing definitely has a place in your perennial food plots, but you can save yourself a lot of time mowing if you spray the correct herbicide at the correct time,” he said. “You can spend a lot of time mowing and still have lots of weeds, or you can spray about twice per year and mow once and have much better results.”

“With the exception of mowing weeds that have gotten too mature to be susceptible to herbicide, I only mow my perennial plots once a year, and that’s generally in August. It’s the end of the growing cycle, the clover and chicory have flowered and produced seed, and most people would say the plot looks ragged. I’m mowing a few scattered weeds, a little bit of clover, and chicory bolts. The production period of the plot is over. I’m getting it prepared for fall growth. Come October, it will look great.”

Craig notes the management timing and forage production period is different in the north where perennial clovers act realistically as a warm-season crop, producing throughout summer.

This advice on mowing differs from some food plotters, who believe in mowing clover when it is at its most productive.

“It’s a myth that you have to mow in order to have a nutritious clover plot,” said Craig. “That’s just wrong. If the clover is doing well in May and June and deer are eating it, let them eat it. Don’t mow it! The nutritive value of a perennial clover leaf that is 4 weeks old compared to one that is 8 weeks old during this time is negligible for white-tailed deer. You worked hard to produce 4,000 pounds per acre of high-quality clover and chicory. Why wake up one Saturday morning in June and mow down three-quarters of it? It doesn’t make sense! Wait until after the forages produce seed before you mow. Unfortunately, many people mow because they want to get outside and do something to manage the land. If they would redirect their effort to other management activities, they would be much more successful in reaching their habitat management objectives for deer.”

Craig’s once-a-year mowing often takes place the same time he needs to top-dress the plot, so both tasks can be tackled in one visit.
Dr Craig Harper may be overestimating the average deer hunters ambition. Who would mow clover that doesn't need mowed when you could be sitting in the shade with an ice cold coke. A tip on the clover; you only mow it if it has tall weeds that are higher than the clover, and mow it high. A tip on the coke; put it in the freezer for several hours until it has little ice chips floating in it.
P.S. I have a lot of respect for Dr Craig Harper's food plot knowledge.
 
I have several established clover plots. If i were to broadcast some chicory in it to enhance the plot(s) can it still be mowed? Or will it stunt or kill off the chicory?


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My question is how are you going to get the chicory to grow by broadcasting it into a well established clover field? If the chicory seed doesn't have soil contact it might not grow. Let me know how this works out for you, I'm curious to see if you get a good germination overseeding into an established thick standing crop like clover.
 
My question is how are you going to get the chicory to grow by broadcasting it into a well established clover field? If the chicory seed doesn't have soil contact it might not grow. Let me know how this works out for you, I'm curious to see if you get a good germination overseeding into an established thick standing crop like clover.

Agreed. I guess his best option would be to broadcast just before a heavy downpour.
 
For me, in most cases, my clover has always overpowered chicory within a couple of years. If you have a good stand of clover it might be hard for it to germinate, and might be a waste.

I might suggest just putting a strip of chicory in, by itself, and manage it. Your herbicide options open up greatly, that way.
 
Ok, I am lazy, I admit it! But I still do math.

"If" a deer eats 7 pounds of food per day and eats 2 pounds of that out of a 1 acre food plot, and "if" there are 5 deer that frequent that food plot on a daily basis, there is 10 pounds of (in my case) clover eaten off that plot per day, or 70 pounds in a week or 2100 pounds in a month. "If" that is the case I really don't need to mow. Anything that flowers and goes to seed, just replenishes my seed bank. Now, I do battle grasses, because where my plots are had been either power lines, gas lines or pasture at one time or another, so I do spray (weed wipe) for that and broad leaf weeds. I have plots on different properties that never get lip high, because of the small % of food plots that I have vs the overall acreage (pine plantations). If I had 10 -15% of my property in food plots and medium deer density ..... well, I'd be growing corn and soybeans, just to shake things up.

durana yield.JPG
 
My experience with chicory and deer, and also quite a few other peoples that I've read about, is that deer seem to prefer clover and chicory about equally, and I've never seen deer go crazy over chicory like they do over soybeans. At the higher cost of seed and the special spraying requirements I'm not sure that chicory is worth the extra effort.
 
My experience with chicory and deer, and also quite a few other peoples that I've read about, is that deer seem to prefer clover and chicory about equally, and I've never seen deer go crazy over chicory like they do over soybeans. At the higher cost of seed and the special spraying requirements I'm not sure that chicory is worth the extra effort.

I have a few perennial clover + chicory plots on our lease in SE Tennessee. I've noticed an interesting chicory usage pattern by the deer over the last few years. They mostly ignore the chicory until it bolts in the summer. Then they hammer the bolting stems and their flowers while mostly continuing to ignore the leaves. It's like the flowers are a treat of some sort. In late August and September, when a lot of natural browse has become less attractive, they start to nibble on the chicory leaves. Then sometime during the 2nd half of October or early November, they absolutely hammer the chicory leaves and eat the plants to the dirt. This is excellent timing for our archery and muzzleloader seasons. As far as the perennial clover goes, they pretty much eat that anytime it's available. They are much more selective with the chicory.
 
I have a few perennial clover + chicory plots on our lease in SE Tennessee. I've noticed an interesting chicory usage pattern by the deer over the last few years. They mostly ignore the chicory until it bolts in the summer. Then they hammer the bolting stems and their flowers while mostly continuing to ignore the leaves. It's like the flowers are a treat of some sort. In late August and September, when a lot of natural browse has become less attractive, they start to nibble on the chicory leaves. Then sometime during the 2nd half of October or early November, they absolutely hammer the chicory leaves and eat the plants to the dirt. This is excellent timing for our archery and muzzleloader seasons. As far as the perennial clover goes, they pretty much eat that anytime it's available. They are much more selective with the chicory.
Maybe I will experiment with chicory a little more, keeping your experiences in mind. Perhaps I was missing some of what you are describing.
 
I have a few perennial clover + chicory plots on our lease in SE Tennessee. I've noticed an interesting chicory usage pattern by the deer over the last few years. They mostly ignore the chicory until it bolts in the summer. Then they hammer the bolting stems and their flowers while mostly continuing to ignore the leaves. It's like the flowers are a treat of some sort. In late August and September, when a lot of natural browse has become less attractive, they start to nibble on the chicory leaves. Then sometime during the 2nd half of October or early November, they absolutely hammer the chicory leaves and eat the plants to the dirt. This is excellent timing for our archery and muzzleloader seasons. As far as the perennial clover goes, they pretty much eat that anytime it's available. They are much more selective with the chicory.
This is fairly close to my experience as well. Deer love the chicory bolts and I see a lot more usage late summer early fall on the leaves than other times. It can be the best game in town after a dry summer when everything has gone tough and stemmy. I also saw a fair amount of chicory usage this February looking for sheds. Was a bit surprising.

I like chicory and have it in every clover plot. The two work together well. I also am comfortable mowing it low with no damage to it and have it last for years...longer than most clovers.


BTW, I've always found Dr. Harper to offer solid advice.
 
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