Anyone use aberlasting clover

John D

Member
I'm looking for something else to plant with my Ladino Clover this fall. So far, I plan on planting 30 lbs of oats, 30lbs of rye, 10 lbs of ladino clover, 2 lbs of chicory and 2 lbs of brassicas. I want to add another clover to the mix and seen this aberlasting. I'm in Ohio and this stuff is supposed to be pretty tough. Anyone use it?

My food plot is also a shooting range and we'll be shooting there in the late spring when the annuals are mowed down. My fear with MRC or some of the other clovers is they will get too tall if the deer don't mow them down.
 
I've got 2 to 3 acres to plant. think I'm going to try some different clovers lite imperial, durana, and ladino. I just want to stick with one additional clover for all areas as I want to see how the others perform. The aberlasting would be my clover to add to each different type of clover I use.
 
Your numbers are off for “2-3” acres. You can’t plan with any realistic expectation if you are off 1/3 in your area. I tend to plant clover heavy. On a per acre basis, I would plant 4lb of white of some kind, 8lb of red, 1lb of chicory and a 100lbs of grain (usually triticale and or rye). Oats don’t serve a purpose in our area past late October so I don’t always throw oats in. I’ve thrown in left over brassicas, but with a Labor Day planting timing I prefer, they don’t do much. I really think you’ll find you’re more productive if you plant half of each plot in timely planted brassicas. Then rotate to take advantage of nitrogen the clovers produce. If you’re insistent about trying other whites, I’ve had good success with Kopp II and Alyce. Personally, I like the Ladino. Sorry, I have no experience with Aberlasting. What is your ph like?
 
That amount of seed used is per acre. I guess I forgot to mention that. I'm throwing the oats in with rye because I have them on hand
 
IMO, even by my standards, that’s too much clover and double the chicory I’d pant. Also, it’s light on grains. Please understand too much chicory will impact your clover. Also, chicory is not a year round draw even when it’s available. My sense is at times of year it provides much needed nutrients and consequently is very attractive...but month in month out, deer prefer clover. I’d strongly suggest you look up Lick Creek’s (Paul Knox’) postings on grain/clover planting if they’re still available. I don’t follow strictly (I omit the peas and radishes but add chicory). Thing is, if you get snow piling up, clover/grains are largely ignored in winter months. My deer rarely dig for them when there’s a foot or more of snow. If that’s all you’ve planted, you’re likely to be dissatisfied with the draw from late November through green up. You’re sure missing out on helping deer through tough winter months. They will be a strong draw September and October. The reason I keep harping on the right brassicas, is the deer will use them as long as they’re available, and most critically, through the dead of winter. Clover and grains just don’t match the tonnage per acre. Just my 0.02.
 
IMO, even by my standards, that’s too much clover and double the chicory I’d pant. Also, it’s light on grains. Please understand too much chicory will impact your clover. Also, chicory is not a year round draw even when it’s available. My sense is at times of year it provides much needed nutrients and consequently is very attractive...but month in month out, deer prefer clover. I’d strongly suggest you look up Lick Creek’s (Paul Knox’) postings on grain/clover planting if they’re still available. I don’t follow strictly (I omit the peas and radishes but add chicory). Thing is, if you get snow piling up, clover/grains are largely ignored in winter months. My deer rarely dig for them when there’s a foot or more of snow. If that’s all you’ve planted, you’re likely to be dissatisfied with the draw from late November through green up. You’re sure missing out on helping deer through tough winter months. They will be a strong draw September and October. The reason I keep harping on the right brassicas, is the deer will use them as long as they’re available, and most critically, through the dead of winter. Clover and grains just don’t match the tonnage per acre. Just my 0.02.

So you're saying I should plant 100 lbs total of oats/triticale, 10lbs total of white clover(ladino,alyce,copp), and 1 pound of Chicory with possibly some brascias?

I was under the impression that 100 lbs of cereal grains was too much cover for the clover and could choke it out. That much cereal is essentially what you plant when you plant them by themselves. Figured you'd want to cut back a bit if you were planting with clover.

I probably will plant some brascias on there own just for some steady food for the winter. I've got a perfect area for them that I plan on using for sweet corn next year. Figure I'll plant some crail and brascias in that plot through the winter.

My soil PH is at 5.7 to 6.1 that I'll be amending with ag lime. I got two different tests for approximately the same area and they came up a little different.
 
Stand alone rate for white is generally 5-6lbs per acre. I wouldn’t worry about the grain crowding the clover. If planted Labor Day, next summer the grain will provide important shade to protect the clover and a year from now clover will be incredibly thick and lush. Too much chicory will crowd it out. I’ll post some pictures if I get out. I would plant 4lbs of assorted white (if that’s what you want), 8lb of red, no more than a pound of chicory and and a hundred pounds of grain making sure at least 1/2 is rye or triticale. Remember, oats will die off and provide no benefits in the spring. Rye on the other hand will be the first thing to green up in the spring.
 
My plan is to plant everything before September 15. Ultimately, I want a short food plot as the area will also be used as a shooting range. That's why all want to stick with all white clovers but want to mix clovers up to see how each one performs. I'm thinks of using the aberlasting as my base clover. So one area will be imperail mixed with aberlasting, another one will be ladino mixed with aberlasting, one will be durana mixed with the aberlasting. I like the way the white clover looks and like the fact that it stays shorter.

The cover crop is being used just to get the clover going. I've got plenty of oats on hand and when it's all used up it pretty much lays down and act like straw. I'm afraid if I use rye or trictical I'll have to kill it off in the spring to get rid of it all.

Ultimately, I want a short and low maintenance food plot. The area I'm planting is going to be the entranceway to my home and needs to look somewhat good. I guess I should of mentioned that. Maybe I'll post a new thread.
 
September 15 seems on the late side to plant that mix. It sounds like you should stick to white clover and oats, which won't feed your deer the best, but will meet your needs very well. Are you broadcasting or tilling/ drilling in your seed? If broadcasting I'd up the grain rate to 150 lb an acre if it were at my place, and plant before labor day.
 
My plan is to go before labor day. Hopefully the weather allows me to as I'll be doing it on the weekend. Rained all weekend and got absolutely nothing done this weekend.

I'm going to be broadcasting for sure. I may want to mix in some rye with the oats. Maybe 50 pounds of rye with 100 lbs of oats and 10 or so pounds of mixed white clovers. My concern was that I didn't want to plant that much cover. I figured 50 pounds would be enough. If you say 150 isn't too much and you've had work for you, I'll do that. I just figured that much cover crop would choke the clover and shade it out too much.
 
So you're saying I should plant 100 lbs total of oats/triticale, 10lbs total of white clover(ladino,alyce,copp), and 1 pound of Chicory with possibly some brascias?

I was under the impression that 100 lbs of cereal grains was too much cover for the clover and could choke it out. That much cereal is essentially what you plant when you plant them by themselves. Figured you'd want to cut back a bit if you were planting with clover.

I probably will plant some brascias on there own just for some steady food for the winter. I've got a perfect area for them that I plan on using for sweet corn next year. Figure I'll plant some crail and brascias in that plot through the winter.

My soil PH is at 5.7 to 6.1 that I'll be amending with ag lime. I got two different tests for approximately the same area and they came up a little different.

The last two falls I’ve planted MRC with wheat. During the fall/winter months there was lots of clover in the plot. When the deer stopped eating the wheat it quickly outgrew the clover and the clover virtually disappeared. I personally think you’re right, 100 lb. per acre of grain is too much to mix with clover, at least in my experience. I never realized the MRC plot that I was looking for, so it’s back to straight wheat in the fall for me.
 
When I plantt red clovers in the fall, crimson, medium red then I will plant with oats and rye as has been described and as a total food kill plot. Whenever I plant white clovers for strictly a perennial plot I have never used a cover crop. Spring or fall. If you don’t need the attraction of the cereals ( and it’s a big attraction ). Then I think it would be ok just to plant the white clover. Seed heavy.
 
For my soils, 100lbs of triticale/rye works best. Of course if you’re using oats, there will be little competition for light/space in spring/summer because it won’t survive the winter. Can’t help your desire to keep clover low in height...that’s inconsistent with providing food gor the deer. Of course, if you’ve got high deer numbers, they’ll keep the clover mowed down for you. These are trail cam pics that give you a sense of how the clover thrives with 100lbs of triticale/rye. It’s as thick as you could hope for. The rye/triticale stubble isn’t pretty but it sure servesB278BF94-B5BD-4AF2-86D0-5E754B8E6B3A.jpeg 263A5DCE-1185-4458-B72B-2712BC2D5B73.jpeg important purposes.
 
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