Red Clover
Red clover is a short-lived perennial legume grown for hay, silage, pasture and green manure crop. Red clover is better adapted than alfalfa to soils that are somewhat poorly drained and slight acidic; however, greatest production occurs on well-drained soils with high water-holding capacity and pH above 6.0. Red clover is not as productive as alfalfa in the summer. Red clover is one of the easiest legumes to establish using no-till interseeding or frost-seeding techniques. Most of the improved varieties are medium types and have good levels of disease resistance to northern and southern anthracnose and powdery mildew. These and other diseases can reduce stands quickly.
A new red clover trial was seeded at South Charleston in April 2000. All varieties established well, but dry spells limited growth at times, resulting in only two harvests this seedling year. Potato leafhoppers were very high on the four lowest yielding varieties. Those varieties were not nearly as pubescent as the other varieties in the test, which may explain the potato leafhopper preference for them.
| Variety | Marketer |
|---|---|
| ZR9906R | Americas Alfalfa |
| ZR9908R | Americas Alfalfa |
| Royal Red | Land O’ Lakes |
| RC9803G | Land O’ Lakes |
| Solid Red | Caudill Seed Warehouse |
| NARN | CISCO Seed Co. |
| StarFire | Ampac Seed Co. |
| Impact | Speciality Seed Co. |
| CW5049 | Cal/West Seeds |
| BESKY | DLF Trifolium |
| Amos | DLF Trifolium |
| Dollna | DLF Trifolium |
| Vesna | DLF Trifolium |