Clover

Has anyone used red clover for a bioacumilator? I'm trying it between the hazels in a hedge I planted last spring. It seems like it should at least add nitrogen.

The women at the feed store where I bought it said it'd be invasive in a yard. That'd be great on a farm, but I live in town. If it invades the neighbor's, they'll get the chemicals out, and I really don't won't them spraying near my property.

Clover can be really invasive. What I would suggest (if you are in an urban setting w/ neighbors close by) would be to talk with the ones that could have property boundaries close to your clover experiment. Explain what you are doing and why, and at last resort offer to do the weed control in any gray areas like that where your neighbor's property runs into yours. For example, I live in a city setting, and the line between me and my neighbor is a bit blurry, the space between our houses is mostly shade and ultimately would be great for growing mushrooms. However to keep the weeds at bay you either need to spray nasty stuff or keep up with mulching. We offered to take care of that space, so that we can ensure that no chemicals will be introduced there. Could be you guys could come to a working arrangement that ultimately benefits all parties.

Most of the red clover I've looked at gets pretty tall and would likely draw the ire of an HOA or ordinance enforcement team in an urban setting. I spread dutch white clover over my yard because it is low growing and mowing sucks. I don't know if it is "invasive" but so far it generally seems like it is being out competed by the creeping charlie...which is find because that's also low growing.

In your situation Dutch White would be a better variety to plant. It is easier to keep under control.

Red and Scarlet clovers are very tall growing with lots of seeds when left to flower and then mature.
One thing about Red clover, it can be poisonous to certain animals. While it won't cause death, it will make them pretty sick.
The only animal I am aware of that Red clover can actually kill are deer. Dogs and cats can become pretty sick if they eat it like it was grass.

On our farm we grow White, Crimson and Yellow clovers in the pastures, I don't plant red clover because we have deer come to the pastures to feed.

Redhawk

I have checked on several options as well and decided to just take the seeds from the one that grows in the garden anyway... and spread it bit by bit... the main reason why I opted for this reason is because I got to know that there is transgenetically modified white clover (and maybe others as well). Here one of many articles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21947755

So I don't recommend buying seeds if you are not entirely shure where they come from...

just investigating on the toxicity... got me curious ...

I copy you some info I found in the article (link below for more information)
The red clover plant itself is not toxic. The toxin, slaframine, is produced by the Rhizoctonia fungus which grows on clovers and alfalfa during periods of stress (high humidity, drought, and continuous grazing). Hay made from contaminated forages is also suspect, and the slaframine can remain in hay for several years.

http://equimed.com/news/health/clover-and-your-horses-health


red clover is actually a medicinal plant (at least for humans)... very useful for regulating problems with menstruation and menopause.

red clover is a medicinal. White clover is common in lawn mixes here. You can run the lawn mower over it.

I hadn't heard about red clover being toxic to some animals.

On my pasture up here in ny, we have abundant deer and red clover.  

In Arkansas the high humidity levels mean there just about isn't a period where Rhizoctonia isn't present. Sorry I should have mentioned this in my first post.

Our land is rife with many species of fungi, bacteria and most forms of micro organisms, mostly beneficial thankfully.
This was done on purpose by me for the benefit of our soil it has taken three years to get to the point where if we cut a tree and let it lay on the soil for more than a week, it starts to rot from the hyphae growing in the cambium layer.
Cut wood that has been kiln dried starts to show fungi fruit within two years of being put in contact with our soil. We consider this a good thing even though it means replacing ground contact wood every 3-4 years (raised garden beds between orchard trees).

This year we have not watered any of our established orchard trees, only the newly planted ones have needed any water even in the 4 week periods of no rains (happened twice this year).
This draught resistance is because of the abundant soil microbiology that has been established, it even took care of the beets and tomatoes (tomatoes are grown in straw bales).