Red Clover Seed

[inyati13]

I have been checking the red clover flowers for seed. I have had about three stages mature, flower and ripen. When I roll the flowers in my hand, I have never found the seed. I know what the seed looks like, why am I not finding any?

 

[bigbluegrass]

I asked the Kenton County ag agent about it a few months ago and he said that the clover head has to be completely dried and it usually doesn't happen until later in the fall. He said it is normally more economical to just replant it than to let it go to seed. However, I checked some of mine and I did find clover seed in the dried head. But with the heat we had the last few weeks, mine dried up and went completely brown. I can't find any blossoms anymore. All the heads and the stems are brown and crunchy dry. I suspect mine will reseed itself.

 

[inyati13]

Thanks, bigbluegrass. Did you get any of that recent rain? Falmouth got about 2 inches. We got 1.5. Looks like we might get more this week. It really helped. My clover is still pretty good on the north facing slopes. On top the ridge, it is toast.

 

[pdfangus]

having read this thread yesterday.....
when I changed the horses grazing paddock last evening I saw some dried red clover heads in the new paddock and so I picked and rolled a few....

at first I thought there were no seeds....but finally I felt a few and kept looking and rolling them in my hands.

The seeds were there but not in great numbers and they were TEENY TINY......

 

[bigbluegrass]

inyati: We did get some rain on Sunday. I wasn't home but judging from the ground I would say it was around 2". I guess this weekend we might get another shot. That rain we got sure brought some life back into things - or maybe it is the slightly cooler weather.

I was playing around with some dry clover heads yesterday as well. You really have to roll it hard and it has to be pretty dry to get to the seed. It is harder to get the seeds out now than it was before the rain. I only saw about 3 to 10 seeds per head. They are really small. A few I couldn't find any seed in. We have bees and they were very busy, so I don't know if that makes a big difference.

 

[dun]

I only saw about 3 to 10 seeds per head. They are really small. A few I couldn't find any seed in.

Throught the years of checking RC heads I've found the same thing, most may have a few but a lot won;t have any and some will haves bunches of them. Never figured it out and just layed it to "that's how stuff works"