Establishment of White Clover in Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass.

Turfgrass covers an estimated 16 million hectares in the U.S. alone. Most of the turfgrass species grown require frequent inputs to maintain an acceptable level of quality. The inputs can include irrigation, fertilization, pesticide applications, and mowing. Among these, N fertilization is usually the most limiting in terms of growth and development of the turf stand. White clover inclusion in lawns is known to provide N to the turf stand through atmospheric N fixation. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum method and timing for establishing white clover cultivars in mature stands of tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. Clover varieties included ‘Dutch White’ and ‘Microclover’. Treatments included aerification, vertical mowing, scalping, and a non-treated control. Trials were performed in spring, summer, and fall to determine seasonal effect. There were no differences in germination between the clover cultivars among treatments or seasons. The scalping treatment had the highest clover germination percentage across all seasons. Clover counts from these plots averaged 100 plants per 20 cm diameter ring at 7 WAT compared to 21 plants per 20 cm ring in the control. Turf recovery from the scalping treatment was significantly slower to recover than all other treatments across all timings. The summer seeding had significantly higher germination percentages than spring, and fall was not significantly different from either spring or summer timings. The fall treatments were the slowest to recover across all timings.