# Crimson clover,alfalfa or hairy vetch-- which one to plant ?



## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

I am going to till up some of the barnyard and plant some for the girls. I allready have an abundance of white dutch in the yard and some yellow clover in the ditches. Does anyone have a preference or reason one is better than the other ? I wont be cutting any for hay ?

regards
Brad


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

Everthing I've read about clovers and alfalfa is white clover is best for bees. The white clover aperantly reproduces necter at a faster rate than any other. It's also said to make a better flavered honey then the red clovers. Alfalfa on the other hand makes a great flavered honey also. The only problem I found with it is that the bees have to work harder for the necter on alfalfa. The way the flowers develop hinders the bees. The top part of the flower hits the bees on the head and they don't like it. Young bees don't know this and that's how alfalfa gets polinated. Mature bees don't go in the flowers they've learned to chew holes in the bottom of the flowers to get to the necter and they then don't polinate the alfalfa. Does this help? My hives are sitting in the middle of 500 acres of white clover and alfalfa which in my mind makes for great honey.


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

Sure, thanks for the reply. I wonder if I planted all 3 together the vetch would over run the clover and alfalfa ?


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

Vetch can get out of hand in a heartbeat. It'll over grow alfalfa and clover.


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## Kazzandra (Jul 7, 2010)

I don't know about Indiana, but here in the mountains hairy vetch does not take over. Crown vetch, of course, is another thing altogether.

How about our native purple vetch?


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

I'd do some reading about vetch. If my brain is still intacked I believe some forms of vetch can affect horses chickens and a host of other animals, cattle can eat it because they have more than one stomach (I don't remember what they call multible stomach animals) anyways, those with multible stomachs can eats quite a few differnt otherwise poisonous plants. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

White dutch is nice and will do well even if it's mowed. White sweet is a different plant and probably better if not mowed and it blooms at a different time that yellow. Both yellow and white sweet clover mixed would be better. Walter T. Kelley sells a mixture of them.


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

Michael Bush said:


> White dutch is nice and will do well even if it's mowed. White sweet is a different plant and probably better if not mowed and it blooms at a different time that yellow. Both yellow and white sweet clover mixed would be better. Walter T. Kelley sells a mixture of them.


Yea I had some sweet yellow clover that ended up pale white last year ??????


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## Jpoindexter (Oct 22, 2010)

How much area can be covered per lb with the mix from Walter T Kelley?


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

crimson clover is good to but has to be reseeded every year thats the downside.


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

> How much area can be covered per lb with the mix from Walter T Kelley?


Clovers pretty much take 8 to 10 lbs per acre to get a good coverage crop no matter what the mix.


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## John R C (Mar 15, 2011)

slickbrightspear said:


> crimson clover is good to but has to be reseeded every year thats the downside.


Crimson does not have to be reseeded annually. It is an annual clover and will not grow after it seeds out, but if you lightly disc in the exisiting browned crimson clover or better yet, burn it it'll come back year after year.


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

I mostly sow crimson on my pastures so i can not disc it in afterwards but thats good to know. I had no idea about the burning it off thats a neat trick also. if you sow it and disc it in can you get it to bloom twice a season like you can with buckwheat or will it only bloom once a year.


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## SERGE (Sep 14, 2010)

I am looking into tilling and seeding a couple of acres with a white dutch/yellow mix of clover. How much honey difference can a couple acres make? would it be better to seed it this early fall or next spring to have a better bloom out of it? Is a white dutch/yellow mix even a good combo? I am not necessarily planning to move it.


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## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

Jpoindexter said:


> How much area can be covered per lb with the mix from Walter T Kelley?


3630 sq.ft. per pound

that's roughly 60'by 60'.


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

a couple of acres is probably not going to make a huge difference what i try to do is sow things that will bloom when i would normally have a dearth here and that seems to keep me from having to feed as much here


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