Clover and mineral sites.

[Jeff H]

A couple of years ago I started a mineral site at the edge of a power line and on the edge of a small food plot. I say mineral site but if memory serves it was just salt. Last fall I planted clover in this area and broadcast my Clover seed into the mineral site as well as the areas around it. Earlier this year I found that the Clover inside of the mineral site was doing much better than the Clover in the rest of the plot. There also were no weeds or grass growing in this spot and it had an inch or two of standing water in it.
Fast forward two weeks and in the same spot the Clover has been eaten to the ground. Has anyone ever experienced this before? I'm not sure what to make of it.

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[Vandy]

I had similar setup but used lucky buck mineral (was told it was amazing...didn't work at all not even squirrels ate it) and nothing grew there for several years up until this year it must finally be gone but clover looks exactly the same throughout the small area.

 

[shawn cox]

the clover probably absorbed some of the minerals and the deer liked the taste of it.

 

[Jeff H]

the clover probably absorbed some of the minerals and the deer liked the taste of it.

I'm sure this is the case, but what's more curious is that no weeds or grass grew in this area.. just clover.
It appears that the salt is both a weed suppressant and clover booster. Makes me wonder if I need to salt my clover plots.

 

[OkieKubota]

I have a spot in my plot expansion that was a mineral/salt station last summer and that spot is scorched earth with clover growing all around it now...salt is as good as Gly for killing everything out and used to be a tactic used to make fields unproductive in wars of old...

 

[Jeff H]

I have a spot in my plot expansion that was a mineral/salt station last summer and that spot is scorched earth with clover growing all around it now...salt is as good as Gly for killing everything out and used to be a tactic used to make fields unproductive in wars of old...

That's an interesting historical reference. In my high school days we poured salt on our rivals football field in the letters of our school.. just before their homecoming game. Burned GHS into Collierville's 50 yard line. It was classic. Of course I wasn't involved.. just heard about it.
I'm still interested in discovering what I did to the soil to keep weeds at bay, make my clover explode, and make it more palatable than any other in the same area.

 

[shawn cox]

I have a spot in my plot expansion that was a mineral/salt station last summer and that spot is scorched earth with clover growing all around it now...salt is as good as Gly for killing everything out and used to be a tactic used to make fields unproductive in wars of old...

That was exactly what I was thinking but I also saw that there is a certain fungus that grows around some clovers roots and creates like a net and helps it be able to store the salt in the plant but also still allow it to process PKN also.


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[THE LLC]

Burned GHS into Collierville's 50 yard line. It was classic. Of course I wasn't involved.. just heard about it.

We would have NEVER considered that you were.

 

[Jeff H]

We would have NEVER considered that you were.

Thanks for the confidence in my innocence. Not a prank at all, just a science experiment gone wrong. Those kids in the science club were a dangerous bunch!

 

[Mennoniteman]

A couple of years ago I started a mineral site at the edge of a power line and on the edge of a small food plot. I say mineral site but if memory serves it was just salt. Last fall I planted clover in this area and broadcast my Clover seed into the mineral site as well as the areas around it. Earlier this year I found that the Clover inside of the mineral site was doing much better than the Clover in the rest of the plot. There also were no weeds or grass growing in this spot and it had an inch or two of standing water in it.
Fast forward two weeks and in the same spot the Clover has been eaten to the ground. Has anyone ever experienced this before? I'm not sure what to make of it.

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White clover actually has a low salt tolerance. what kind of clover did you plant?

 

[Jeff H]

White clover actually has a low salt tolerance. what kind of clover did you plant?

It's Ladino Clover.

 

[Rempump870]

I have heard of people spreading mineral into their clover plots and then the clover roots uptakes the minerals into the plant.

 

[THE LLC]

Thanks for the confidence in my innocence. Not a prank at all, just a science experiment gone wrong. Those kids in the science club were a dangerous bunch!

I was in that club too. Amazing what you can do with pure sodium and water.

 

[Mennoniteman]

With the Amish it's almost like a tradition to take the saltwater from the hand crank ice-cream freezers and pour it over the asparagus patch. This keeps the weeds down and promotes eating more homemade ice cream.

 

[MarkDarvin]

Mineral and fertilizer are about the exact same thing.

 

[DocHolladay]

This came in an email the other day and then I saw it on Facebook. No video, just audio... good info and sounds like what happened in your clover.

Mineral Stumps

 

[Jeff H]

This came in an email the other day and then I saw it on Facebook. No video, just audio... good info and sounds like what happened in your clover.

Mineral Stumps

Thanks Doc, I just finished listening to that on my drive to work. Very cool stuff and I think it shows the importance of using your chainsaw as a habitat tool.

 

[OkieKubota]

Photos of my mineral site I expanded the clover plot into...

Scorched earth...


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[Jeff H]

Well It looks like I have finally got an answer to my question. Well, I got a plausible. I'm good with plausible. I emailed associate professor Marcus Lashley at Mississippi State University after hearing his podcast on mineral stumps (thanks again Doc) and here is what he had to say:

So on the surface it appears that "some" salt in the soil can be a good thing for clover and not for grass. Interesting stuff. Also I would encourage everyone to listen to the podcast linked here by Doc Holiday on mineral stumps. It's a great listen and another tool for the toolbox.

 

[Jeff H]

One more entry to give proper credit to the source: