| Oats as nurse crop for clover |
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By:
Langbow
Date:18-Sep-21
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So I planted oats as a nurse crop for whitetail clover everything looks good. Oats about 8-10 inches high. Real goal is for the clover to be nexts years plot. A few questions on next step. When the leaves surrounding the field fall they will next hard into the oats. Should I leave them or blow them off? Could I mow the high oats in late November and mulch up the leaves then pick up, or even leave it. Just not sure what to do here in a few weeks.
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By:
pav
Date:18-Sep-21
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We've used oats as a cover crop for fall clover plots for years. Typically don't worry much about the leaves until March. Blowing or mulching/mowing them off prior to frost seeding additional clover seed in the plot seems to work well for us.
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By:
t-roy
Date:18-Sep-21
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PAV covered it pretty well. What kind of trees are around your plot? Some leaves can potentially be a bigger issue than others. From my experience, oak leaves seem to a bigger problem than most other types of leaves. They don’t seem to break down as quickly as other leaves and have a tendency to get matted down, as well, smothering the new sprouts, and keeping the frost seeded seeds from making good contact with the ground. Mulching and/or raking them definitely helps.
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By:
Langbow
Date:18-Sep-21
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Yeah mostly oak. I like the idea of waiting until March/April to remove them.
