There are some home remedies you can use to get rid of clover in your lawn. Since control often requires patience, proper care is important to prevent uncontrolled spread.
identify causes
Before you tackle clover, you should find out why it is spreading. The lawn often suffers from a lack of nutrients, so that the various types of clover are no longer suppressed by the competition. As legumes, they live in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing nodule bacteria. These make it possible for the nutrient-loving plants to grow on unfertilized areas. Another reason can be an unfavorable pH value. This should be between 6.0 and 6.5 for optimal grass growth. Higher values favor the growth of white clover. Horn and sorrel, on the other hand, do well on acidic soils. Once you've found the real problem for the spread of clover species, you can adjust your care following acute control measures.
cooking water
Hot water is the ideal home remedy for acute treatment of clover. It destroys the plant tissue and cell structure. The delicate stems and leaves are damaged to such an extent that the plant can no longer carry out photosynthesis and dies. Multiple applications are usually necessary. Because the hot water is no longer attacking the roots, the plant can recover and grow again. For maximum success, do the following:
- boil a liter of water
- water evenly over the weeds for as long as possible
- a duration of at least ten seconds is ideal
- make sure that no surrounding plants are watered
horn meal
The agent obtained from the horns and claws of slaughtered animals is considered a nitrogen supplier and can be used to fertilize lawns. Due to the grain size of less than one millimeter, the microorganisms living in the soil decompose the particles within a few weeks and make the nitrogen available to plants. In this way you promote the growth of the grasses, which naturally push back the clover. How to apply horn meal:
- spread widely on the surface
- use a spreader for better dosing
- Water the lawn well so that particles get into the soil pores
Tip: Horn shavings have a grain size of more than five millimeters. They are therefore suitable as a long-term fertilizer for your lawn, with which you can prevent the appearance of clover.
foil
White clover thrives in sunny conditions, giving the species additional growth advantages in the absence of competition from grasses. A convenient and easy-to-use method is to deprive clover pads of light with a black film such as mulch film. Lay these out across the entire lawn and weigh down the sides to keep them from being lifted by the wind. After two months, the unwanted plants died due to the lack of light. However, this measure also kills numerous grasses, so that you then have to loosen up the area and sow seeds again.
vinegar
The versatile agent is also useful for killing various types of clover in lawns. Correct application is important in order not to endanger surrounding plants, soil organisms or animals in the garden. Depending on the location, the effect can be immediate or delayed. On sunny locations, the vinegar treatment leads to the desired result more quickly than on shady lawns. The stronger the sun's rays, the more efficiently the product works. Rain ensures that the residue is washed off the leaves. How to proceed:
- Carry out control in spring and summer
- Use home remedies early before sowing and ideally with young plants
- wait for a sunny and dry period
- Brush vinegar very sparingly on the weeds
- make sure that no surrounding plants are treated
- cut out dead plants
salt
Salt residues on leaves and stems excessively draw water from plant tissue and cause burns. Not only clovers but all plants in the area dry out and die. This is not the only disadvantage of this method. The household product dissolves in water and in this way gets into the upper layers of the soil. Deeper-growing roots are not sufficiently covered with smaller quantities, so that unwanted weeds recover after a short time. For these reasons, you should use salt with extreme caution and caution. How to proceed:
- Use salt sparingly
- Mix about 5% with water
- Use home remedies before flowering
- pour over the weeds
- remove dead plants
Notice: The use of salt and vinegar to combat weeds is prohibited on sealed surfaces. The substances are washed away by rain and pose a threat to the environment.
cutlery
Manual control is very successful with white clover, as this species is less persistent than other clover species. If you go into the garden in good time with the weed puller, you can also effectively remove sorrel and horn clover. If you don't have the right tools, you can use a pointed object such as a fork or knife. The correct procedure is important so that all parts of the plant are completely removed from the soil:
weeder
- Measure before flowering to prevent seed dispersal
- Wait for the rain to loosen the soil
- dig directly into the ground by the stem
- gently shake and pry to loosen the taproot
- pull the entire plant out of the substrate and compost
- Remove clover with a spade from larger infested areas
care properly
To prevent clover from spreading in the first place, you should carefully care for the lawn. Do not mow the area regularly, because clover benefits from the increased light supply and grows faster than grass. Even hot and dry summer months do not pose a problem for the weeds. However, many grasses suffer from suboptimal growth conditions. This is how your lawn thrives and stays weed-free:
- Do not fall below a mowing height of four centimetres
- water regularly
- scarify in April and September
- then fertilize
- Reseed the lawn if necessary