Trifolium pratense Cool season legume cover crop.
Red Clover is actually a short-lived perennial with strong reseeding ability, making it a reliable cool-season legume for diverse farming systems. Often interseeded with grains, it can be irrigated to produce a honey and seed crop after grain harvest. Establishing quickly in 5–10 days, it grows to about 18″ tall and contributes up to 140 pounds of nitrogen per acre while offering excellent forage quality. Its blossoms are not only edible and medicinal but also provide abundant nectar for honeybees, beneficial wasps, tachinid flies, and syrphid flies, making it a valuable plant for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat.
- Application Rate: 0.25–0.5″ deep at 0.5–1 lb/1,000 sq ft or 15–20 lb/acre
- Inoculant: None needed, seed is nitrocoated
- Germination: 5–10 Days
- Plant Height: 18″
- Uses: Edible and medicinal blossoms, nitrogen fixation (up to 140 lb/acre), high-yield forage, beneficial insect and pollinator support
- Facts to Note: Plant in areas with moderate temperatures and soils rich in calcium. Widely adaptable but avoid poorly drained soils. Once established, tolerates temperatures as low as -20°F. Best seeded in fall or spring in cold regions.
See our guide for more information on distinctions between Red and Crimson Clovers.
Note to Certified Organic Growers from Manufacturer: Nitro-coated seed is conventionally grown seed that has had an organically accepted seed coating applied to it. The seed itself is conventionally grown, non-GMO, and untreated (no fungicides or insecticide seed treatment applied) prior to coating. The seed coat consists of certified organic powdered limestone, an organically approved binder (glue), and peat peat-based inoculant that is also OMRI-approved and organically accepted. The seed coating is applied in a OMRI-approved process in a separate treatment line that only produces Nitro-coated seeds.
