Clover Is No Miracle Lawn Feeder
A few weeks back (June 3), we talked about how to grow a clover lawn. There are advantages to clover, but feeding the grass isn’t one of them. It’s true that clover is a legume, and it fixes its own nitrogen from Earth’s atmosphere. But clover won’t fertilize the lawn where it’s growing.
The nitrogen that clover fixes is totally utilized by the clover plant and is not released into the soil unless the clover plant is killed. Only after the nitrogen has entered the soil can the roots of the surrounding grasses utilize it.
So the only nitrogen clover gives your lawn comes from the decay of clippings — and that only when you cut your grass-and-clover lawn tall and let it fall in place.
To witness this phenomenon, spray a patch of clover growing in your lawn with a selective herbicide, such as Speedzone or Weed B Gone, which kills only broadleaf plants. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for use. Allow at least two weeks for the clover to die and another three to four weeks for the roots of the clover to decompose, as will happen if there is adequate moisture in the ground.
If conditions are right, you should be able to detect a change in the color of the surrounding grass from light green to dark green as a result of the nitrogen release from the decomposing clover roots.