What helps against clover in the lawn: 6 home remedies

There are some home remedies that you can use to get clover in race can kill you. Since fighting often requires patience, proper care is important to prevent uncontrolled spread.

Identify the causes

Before tackling the clover, it's a good idea to find out why it has spread. The lawn often suffers from a lack of nutrients, so that the different types of clover are no longer suppressed by competition. As legumes, they live in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing nodule bacteria. These make it possible for the nutrient-loving plants to grow even 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. In contrast, horned clover and wood sorrel feel good on acidic soils. Once you have identified the real problem with the spread of clover species, you can adjust your care following the acute control measures.

Cooking water

Hot water is the ideal home remedy for the acute treatment of clover. It destroys the plant tissue and the cell structure. The delicate stems and leaves are damaged to such an extent that the plant can no longer photosynthesize and it dies. Usually several applications are necessary. Since the hot water no longer attacks the roots, the plant can recover and grow again. For the greatest possible success, do the following:

• Boil one liter of water
• Pour 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 remedy 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 a 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 encourage the growth of the grasses, which naturally push back the clover. How to use horn meal:

• Spread it broadly 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 long-term fertilizers for your lawn, with which you can prevent the appearance of clover.

foil

White clover feels comfortable in sunny conditions, which is why the species enjoys additional growth advantages when there is no competition from grasses. A convenient and easy-to-use method is to remove light from clover cushions with a black film such as mulch film. Lay this out over the entire lawn and weigh down the sides so that they cannot be lifted by the wind. After two months, the unwanted plants died due to the lack of light. However, as a result of this measure, numerous grasses also die, so that you then have to loosen up the area and replant it with seeds.

vinegar

The versatile agent is also suitable for killing different types of clover in the lawn. Correct use is important so as not to endanger surrounding plants, soil organisms or animals in the garden. Depending on the location, the effect can be immediate or a little delayed. In sunny locations, the vinegar treatment leads to the desired success faster than on shady lawns. The stronger the sunlight, the more efficient the agent works. Rain ensures that the residue is washed off the leaves. How to do it:

• Perform control in spring and summer
• Use home remedies early before sowing and ideally on young plants
• wait for a sunny and dry period
• vinegar Brush the weeds extremely sparingly
• make sure that no surrounding plants are treated
• Cut out dead plants

salt

Salt residues on leaves and stems draw excessive water from the plant tissue and cause burns. Not only types of clover but all the plants in the area dry out and die. That's not the only downside to this method. The household product dissolves in water and thus gets into the upper soil layers. In the case of smaller quantities, roots that grow deeper are not sufficiently recorded, so that unwanted weeds recover after a short time. For these reasons, you should use salt with extreme caution and caution. How to do it:

• Use salt sparingly
• Mix about five percent with water
• Use home remedies before flowering
• pour over the weeds
• Remove dead plants

Note: The use of salt and vinegar to control weeds is prohibited on sealed surfaces. The substances are washed away by the rain and pose a threat to the environment.

cutlery

Manual control is very successful with white clover, because this species is less stubborn than other clover species. If you go into the garden with the weed cutter in good time, you can also get rid of sorrel and horn clover effectively. If you do not have the appropriate tools, you can use a sharp object such as a fork or knife. The correct procedure is important so that all parts of the plant are completely removed from the earth:

• Take action before flowering to prevent seed spread
• Wait for rain to loosen up the soil
• Drill into the soil directly on the stem
• Gently shake and pry so that the taproot is loosened
• Pull the entire plant out of the substrate and compost
• Remove clover with a spade from larger infested areas

Maintain properly

To prevent clover from spreading in the first place, you should take care of the lawn. Do not mow the area regularly, as clover benefits from the increased supply of light and grows faster than grass. Even hot and dry summer months are no problem for the weeds. However, many grasses suffer from suboptimal growth conditions. This is how your lawn will thrive and stay weed-free:

• Do not fall below the mowing height of four centimeters
• water regularly
• scarify in April and September
• then fertilize
• Re-sow the lawn if necessary