New Zealand White Clover an Orchard Cover Crop

New Zealand White Clover (Trifolium repens) is a perennial nitrogen fixing legume that reaches about 8-12 inches in height. New Zealand White Clover is more tolerant of heat and drought than larger clovers, is more vigorous, and tolerates a wide range of soils.

New Zealand White Clover forms a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing soil bacteria called Rhizobium trifolii. Rhizobium bacteria are found in root nodules of clover and other legumes. The Rhizobium bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium that the plant uses for growth and development. The plant in turn provides a suitable growth environment (root nodule) as well as other nutrients such as carbohydrates and protein.

New Zealand White Clover is used as green manure as it fixes up to 170 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Excess nitrogen is released into the surrounding soil where associated plants use it for growth and development. Local Orchards, Valencia County Extension Service, and Homeowners use New Zealand White Clover under their orchards or vineyards to provide natural organic nitrogen and eliminate the need to buy inorganic nitrogen fertilizers (photo).

New Zealand White Clover is also used as “living mulch”. Like other mulches a surface crop of New Zealand White Clover protects the soil from drying, high temperatures, chokes out weeds, and the flowers attract beneficial insects like honeybees (photo).

Reminder also, that a field of clover is just enjoyable to view, smell, and search through for lucky 4-leaf variations.

New Zealand White Clover will grow on most soils but requires regular moisture for growth. This is one reason it is well suited as an orchard or vineyard cover crop because fruit crops require regular moisture for production. Leave clover un-mowed in late summer or early fall so that this added bulk can act as an insulator through the winter months.

Trees That Please Nursery has both White Clover and New Zealand White Clover available for planting as an orchard cover crop. Contact the nursery for more information and pricing.

Comments

All About the Shantung Maple!

The Shantung Maple ( Acer truncatum ) is also known as the Purple Blow Maple due to the color of its newly emerging leaves which are red-purple (see photo below). These young expanding red-purple leaves change to green as they mature. Leaves are small, about the size of Japanese Red Maple leaves, perhaps 3’-4’ wide at maturity. The Shantung Maple grows 1′-2′ annually reaching 25″ tall and wide. This is our tree for all planting situations. This Maple does well in heavy clay, sandy soils, full sun, or part shade. It can be planted in a lawn or next to a hot asphalt street (see photo below). It seemingly is a happy tree enjoying life wherever it is placed. One place we would not recommend planting this tree is in a rockscape which is just too hot and inhospitable to support this beautiful tree. A smaller tree, the Shantung Ma...

How does nitrogen work in the soil, and where does it come from when we don't have a bag of fertilizer to supplement it?

I've spoken many times on this subject at conferences and it was the main theme of my talk when I represented North America at the World's 1st Humus Experts Meeting in Vienna Austria back in 2013. Most of the Nitrogen used by the vast tropical rain forests, or the fastest growing biomass place on Earth, the Coastal Redwood Forests of California, comes from the production of protein by the Free-Living Nitrogen Fixing bacteria in soil and the massive biomass structure of the mycorrhizal fungi. The proteins as it breaks down in the soil into amino acids are the building blocks of life and the explanation of the Soil Food Web. However, in order for those amino acids to enter a plant and be part of the nitrogen budget of the plant they must have the assistance of the mycorrhizal fungi. It's much more efficient for a plant to uptake amino acids whose molecules include nitrogen needed to build tissues than to uptake just nitrogen minus the amino acid. ...

Desert Willows

The Desert Willow ( Chilopsis linearis ) is a small flowering tree grown for its orchid like flowers and tolerance to hot arid landscapes. The Desert Willow is a New Mexico native tree that normally grows with multi-trunks to about 15′-18’ tall and wide. If pruned into a single-trunk tree it can grow much taller. This trees common name, Desert Willow, is given due to its willow-like leaves (photo). The Desert Willow is not related to other willows like Globe or Weeping. The Desert Willow is well suited for the xeric landscape or to cool down a west or south facing wall. In particularly hot areas, areas with low annual rainfall or where water is limiting the Desert Willow makes a great specimen tree because of its tolerance to these conditions. In hot, dry areas the Desert Willow is sometimes used as the sole landscaping tree (photo). It produces a light dappled shade due to its leaf and canopy structure that is ideal to cool down hot sun facing walls (photo). It produces orchid li...

Trees That Please Nursery

Search This Blog