Clover Control

Take care of your lawn. Clover in a lawn is a sign of an under fertilized and overly compacted sod base. If you are looking for a golf course‒style lawn, you need to start testing your soil and making some adjustments with yearly fertilizer applications. Clover thrives where grass doesn't, in areas that are lacking in nitrogen. Regular dethatching, top dressing with soil, and aeration with coring will keep your lawn healthy and prevent weeds from being able to take root. If you don't have the tools necessary, as they might represent a substantial investment, you can always hire a lawn care specialist.

Raise your mower deck. Depending on the time of year, you may be mowing your lawn several times a week. You might be tempted to lower the deck as much as possible to give yourself more time between mowing sessions, but it will actually hurt your lawn in several ways. Clover, some species being perennials, can grow back from its roots, so you aren't going to kill it by cutting it down. You will only set back the grass. If you allow it to grow taller, the mower will trim off the clover leaves, and the grass will have a chance to overtake it and choke it out.

Dig up smaller clumps. Because clover is a perennial, it can easily take over an area in a year or two. If you start seeing a clover plant here or there in your lawn, it means some seeds have blown in from somewhere, and you need to take some action before it gets out of hand. Use a trowel or small spade to dig out the plants. Be sure to remove any roots. Smooth out the soil, reseed the area, water, and hope for the best. It is always better to be proactive with weeds in your lawn. It doesn't take long for things to get out of hand.

Use mulch to kill clover. If you have a large area of clover or other weeds in your garden or lawn, you can use various mulching methodologies to kill them. A thick layer of organic compost will smother plants easily enough. However, it will become susceptible to new seeds growing on top of it. Layers of newspapers and compost are another biodegradable mulching option. Landscaping fabric with a wood chip mulch, if properly applied, can kill areas of clover and weeds and prevent future growth. To really kill an area of weeds, put down a layer of plastic with weights on the edges. This will kill everything within a month or two during the summer.

Start over from scratch. With lawns, sometimes it's better to just start over to ensure that you get exactly what you want. Depending on what method you want to use, you may need to till up the whole area or even strip off the top layer of old sod. You could start by killing the area with plastic or spraying a non-selective herbicide, like Roundup. Once you're down to bare earth, you need to make sure your soil is prepared—maybe haul in some top soil and level it out. Reseeding and re-sodding are your two options here. Both are labor- and cost-intensive. Might inspire you to install a rock lawn or move to an apartment.