Imperial Whitetail Clover

We have been planting Imperial Whitetail Clover since the early 90’s. Our newest plot was planted in May of 2005 when we extended an existing smaller plot and ended up with a whopping quarter acre food plot.

Imperial Whitetail clover is a blend of perennial clovers that can be planted in both the spring and fall.

We had not yet committed fully to our healthy dirt building process yet so we probably put about 100 pound of lime on the plot by hand and fertilized while we were disking the ground. This converts to about 435 pounds of lime per acre, which isn’t much compared to the one plus ton per acre that we have committed to this spring.

We were able to disk the plot on two occasions about one month apart before we planted. The month in between disking was due to a lot of rain and even some snow in later April and early May.

After disking we dragged the plot with old bedsprings behind our ATV to level and compact the dirt, sowed the clover seed and then dragged again to try to get the seed into good contact with the dirt. We were finally able to get it planted on May 13th.

By June we had a nice thick plot of Imperial Whitetail Clover and unfortunately some hay and a few weeds to go along with it. We sprayed the plot with Arrest grass herbicide and were able to knock back much of the grass. Throughout the summer of 2005, which was very dry, we saw several deer eating and the plot provided a lot of good food for the deer.

So far in the spring of 2006 the clover has come back very thick in this plot. In late April it had grown to over 12 inches tall and we mowed it back in early May. We also hit it with some Arrest to keep the grasses at bay.

Imperial Whitetail Clover has been a mainstay of our food plots for several years now and has always performed well for us even though we do not get it planted under optimum conditions. If you could get an acre or more planted it would provide a lot of good quality forage for your deer.

In our experience the clover grows great in the spring and throughout the summer with a little rain. We haven't had a lot of success with it staying vibrant throughout the fall and winter though. The exception is when it is planted in the fall. It then grows through the early fall and the deer come to it readily.

You can read more about this food plot and all of our other plots in the Food Plot Journal Updates that you can find here.

This is what the clover looked like in the food plot in April 2006. It was over 12 inches tall and we mowed it the next week.


Return from Imperial Whitetail Clover to the Food Plot Seed Reviews.