Seasons For Sowing

Category: SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES WHICH APPLY TO THE GROWING OF CLOVERS

Clovers are more commonly sown in the springtime
in the Northern States and Canada than at any other season and they are
usually sown early in the spring, rather than late. On land producing a
winter crop, as rye or wheat, they can be sown in a majority of
instances as soon as the snow has melted. That condition of soil known
as honeycombed furnishes a peculiarly opportune time for sowing these
seeds, as it provides a covering for them while the land is moist, and
thus puts them in a position to germinate as soon as growth begins. Such
a condition, caused by alternate freezing and thawing, does not occur on
sandy soils. Where it does not so occur, sowing ought to be deferred
until the surface of the ground has become dry enough to admit of
covering with a harrow. As in sowing the seeds of certain grasses good
results usually follow sowing just after a light fall of snow, which, as
it melts, carries the seed down into the little openings in the soil.
But there are areas, especially in the American and Canadian northwest,
where in some seasons the young clover plants would be injured from
sowing the seed quite early. This, however, does not occur very
frequently. When sown on spring crops, as spring wheat, barley and oats,
the seed cannot, of course, be sown until these crops are sown. The
earlier that these crops are sown the more likely are the clovers sown
to make a stand, as they have more time to become rooted before the dry
weather of summer begins. In a moist season the seed could be safely
sown any time from spring until mid-summer, but since the weather cannot
be forecast, it is considered more or less hazardous to sow clovers in
these northern areas at any other season than that of early spring. If
sown later, the seed will more certainly make a stand without a nurse
crop, since it will get more moisture. If sown later than August, the
young plants are much more liable to perish in the winter.

In the States which lie between parallels 40 deg. and 35 deg. north, and between
the Atlantic and the 100th meridian west, clover seeds may be sown in
one form or another from early spring until the early autumn without
incurring much hazard from winter killing in the young plants, but here
also early spring sowing will prove the most satisfactory. The hazard
from sowing in the summer comes chiefly from want of sufficient moisture
to germinate the seed.

In the Southern States the seed is sown in the early spring or in the
autumn. If sown late, the heat of summer is much against the plants.
Seeds sown in the early autumn as soon as the rains come will make a
good stand before the winter, but there are some soils in the South in
which alternate freezing and thawing in winter, much more frequent than
in the North, would injure and in some instances destroy the plants.

In the Western valleys where irrigation is practiced, clover seeds may
be sown at any time that may be desired, from the early spring until the
early autumn. The ability to apply water when it is needed insures
proper germination in the seed and vigor in the young plants.

Next: Methods Of Sowing
Previous: Fertilizers

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