Question:
How can I reduce the amount of white clover in our lawn? We absolutely do not wish to use a herbicide, but I am not sure what will work. My wife does not mind clover and says it is good for the soil. But I would prefer a bit more grass.
Zdenek Skoumal, via email Answer:
Clover is hard to remove. It has fairly deep roots and seeds around a lot. It's a low-growing plant that loves sun.
That's why one easy deterrent is to set your mower to give a much longer cut; at least seven centimetres (three inches) stem length. This tends to shade out the clover which will have to make more effort to grow and be less visible when it does.
A longer cut will help your grass become stronger since it will have longer leaves to perform photosynthesis and this will give it an increased food supply. Poor soil favours an increase of clover. Lush, healthy grass competes strongly with clover. Lawn fertilizer should be high nitrogen, which favours leaf growth, and low in phosphorus, which stimulates flower formation. Topdressing once a year with compost will help feed the grass.
You could always rake some grass seed into this topdressing anywhere you feel grass is thin. But you need to choose your mix carefully because many grass seed mixes include some white clover seed.
That's because clover fixes nitrogen and helps to fertilize grass. Go easy on lime, or eliminate it for a while. This is a balancing act because the lime deters moss while it encourages clover. Especially if your lawn is at all shady, lack of lime will result in more moss. Then you'd need to decide which is the worst evil: clover or moss.
I wonder if it's the look of white clover flowers that you really want to reduce. Is it possible you wouldn't mind the green clover leaves nearly as much? Especially with a longer cut, the green clover leaves won't be easy to distinguish from the grass. All this is relatively little work compared with the task of trying to remove clover.
Removing clover could involve digging up your lawn and the deep clover roots, putting landscape fabric down and adding about seven centimetres (three inches) of topsoil then spreading grass seed (or re-sodding).
Question:
This question is about an insect that secretes a foam substance from its body. It can be found along walkways where there is bush. What is it?
Daryl Shim,
via email Answer:
It's called a spitbug, and inside all that foam is are larvae. Spitbugs overwinter as eggs in the soil. In spring, they hatch, climb up plant stems and suck sap from the leaves.
The foam is from the plant juices they suck, and they use it as a protection while they develop into adults, which look like grasshoppers. If you need to get rid of them in a garden, you can always blast them away with water from a hose.
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