Are the clovers in my lawn considered weeds?

Question

As I was vicously tending to my lawn (it now has brown patches where grass once was) I noticed them, the clovers. Do I let them grow or chuck em...are they weeds?

Answer 1

Are you sure it is clover? There are at least three plants with trifoliate leaves commonly mistaken for each other. There is oxalis or black medic, yellow wood sorrel and white clover.
They each have differences in the leaflets.
Oxalis has the center leaflet the longest
Yellow wood sorrel has distinct heart shape to each leaflet and each one has a center fold line like a paper cut heart.
Clover has a serrate or toothed edge on the leaflets.

If you rally have clover it is a sign your lawn is deficient in nitrogen because clover like all legumes is a nitrogen fixer. Soil low in nitrogen can not support a lawn so clover colonizes and restores the nitrogen. Clover also likes a fairly moist soil. So if you cut back on the water and up the level of the nutrients that your lawn needs to thrive, your lawn will do better and weeds like clover will do worse.
The best thing is to topdress with a fertilizer blended with compost or earthworm castings.
Spread it around in piles on the lawn with a wheelbarrow. Sling it from the piles onto the grass with a shovel. Then use a push broom to sweep it off the grass blades and down into the turf. Water it in to activate the compost microbes and wash them onto your soil. Apply compost to grass at a rate of no more than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. This results in a thin layer. Compost itself had little nutrient value but it helps build humus up in the soil. Humus holds water and nutrients available to the grass.

If you have another weed try vinegar.
For spot treatment or for small areas of pure weeds, try David Hall’s method of "vinegar sprayed as a foliar spray, not a soil drench. To a gallon of vinegar, mix a tablespoon of liquid dish soap and two tablespoons of molasses as wetting agents. Apply full strength from a hand sprayer. Be careful not to get any spray on you or in your eyes or inhale it.” 20% vinegar is available at some Nurseries, Lowes, and Home Depot garden centers. (20 % costs over $10/gal but less than Scott’s Weed B Gon at $15/gal. Only the hardiest weeds need 20%, 10% does for most weeds.
To prevent next years weed crop from sprouting try corn meal gluten as a pre-emergent. http://www.lawnandgardenmagic.com/hydrop
http://www.dirtworks.net/Weed-Ban.html

Read this. It has a lot more detail. http://www.richsoil.com/lawn/index.jsp

Answer 2

I agree with Trekkie, I let my clover run rampant. I have found that not only do the bees love the flowers but the bunnies will often munch on the clover rather than my garden. Also clover is high in nitrogen and makes great compost.

Answer 3

Yes the clover on your lawn is a weed and a fast spreading one I might add. You can buy a weed killer to apply to your lawn. Just check the label and make sure it lists clover which most of them will.

Answer 4

If the leaves are kind of heart shaped, and the flowers have yellow petals, it's wood sorrel. A broad-leafed weed killer should do the trick. Or you could just eat the leaves, they're rather tasty.

Answer 5

Yes they are weeds. If you large areas of brown patches you probably have grubs. Turn over some sod at the edge of a brown patch and if you see short fat white worms you have grubs. They chew at the roots of you grass there for killing it. You can buy grub control and get rid of them then re seed your lawn.

Answer 6

actually anything that grows where you don't want it is considered a weed. a rose growing in the middle of a pumpkin patch could be considered a weed. so if you don't want them there, chuck em.

Answer 7

They are definitely weeds! Clover is usually a good sign that you need to fertilize your lawn! Good luck!

Answer 8

Yeah they're weeds. Anything with broad leaves that grow where grass is meant to be is a weed. Throw some weed n feed on it to kill them off.

Answer 9

they may not make your lawn look exquistite, but honey bees and bumble bees love clover and make honey w/ it. If I had it in my yard, I would leave it. Honey bees are dying, lots of them, they are why we have a good portion of vegetables, because they pollinate the plants which produce food. All bees, wasps are good in nature, they may be a nuisance sometimes, but are very beneficial, so let them enjoy your clover. thanks

Answer 10

Yep, they're weeds!