Cool Season
Sweet clover has two main types. Yellow Blossom is a biennial and White is an annual. Both are upright plants with decent drought tolerance once established. Salinity tolerance is quite good. Sweet clover is renown for improving marginal soil by increasing the organic matter quickly. Plants are tolerant of heat and shading. Tap root is fairly aggressive and is able to loosen hard soils. Yellow blossom has very good winter hardiness.
Seeds/pound: 174,000 Seed/sq ft/pound of seed: 4.8
Uses:
- Nitrogen builder
- Hay source
- Intercropping
- Erosion control
- Weed suppression
- Pollinator attracter
- Green manure
Strengths:
- Drought tolerance
- Easy to establish
- Adds a lot of organic matter to the soil if green manured
Concerns:
Can become a weed, can be hard to handle if it gets over mature, Courmarin can be an issue, there is a bloat risk, can dominate a blend.
Grazing:
Has potential until it starts getting tall then palatability drops. Watch bloat risk.
Hay:
Has good potential until it gets tall, then palatability drops.
Mycorrhizal support? Yes
