ESTABLISHMENT OF SUB. CLOVER ON HILL COUNTRY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 96, 15 September 1950, Page 5

ESTABLISHMENT OF SUB. CLOVER ON HILL COUNTRY

(Contributed by E. R. Marryatt, Fields Instructor, Department of Agriculture) In a pelleted clover seed trial laid down last autumn on hill country at Nukuhou North, there are about 2£ times as many plants of subterranean clover on the plots topdressed with super at 2 cwt. per acre as on those not topdressed and the growth of the sub. clover plants on the topdressed plots is about 3 to 4 times greater. The farmer erected a “cyclone” netting fence around these plots and they have never been grazed. At the same time as these plots were laid down, I also laid down nearby an unofficial experiment in which two plots were topdressed with super and one of them was oversown with sub. jclover. These plots have been subject to close grazing and only two or three plants of sub. clover could be found on the oversown plot yet on the corresponding plots in the area protected from grazing the number of plants on plots approximately half the size was 28, 33, 28 and 36. This represents on equal areas 50 plants on ungrazed pasture for every plant of sub. clover on the area subject to close grazing, or, put in andther way, about 500 plants an acre under close grazing after oversowing with unpelleted sub. clover and topdressing, but 25,000 plants per acre where grazing has thereafter been restricted. (Pelleted clover seed was not ufeed on any of these plots discussed here).

Recommendation: To establish sub. clover on hill country in this district oversow at 31b an acre (half Mt. Barker and half Talarook) along with 2cwt of super or sedp. super in the autumn and do not allow stock on the pasture again until the spring and then graze only leniently until the new plants have reseeded. Deal with one paddock at a time. Best results appear to be achieved after a dry summer and autumn.