imperial clover or patriot

What's yalls thoughts imperial or patriot will be planting south of Macon also want to mix in some chicory as well what a good brand for that.

I have planted ladino(not imperial) and patriot south of Macon. The patriot did much better. I plan to start another patriot plot this fall. I have not tried chicory.

I am West of Macon, and my test plot of chicory looks good. held up well to the heat in fairly sandy loam soil.

imperial clover: Planted over ten years ago and it's still growing strong.

Can't go wrong with Imperial clover.

x2 on imperial!

I have tried both, and although it will return (in lesser amounts each year), I prefer to do an annual crimson planting each year instead of white.

But between the 2, my vote is for Imperial.
If you plant this fall, the Spring green up will knock your socks off. Really lush until the summer heat comes.

I too have switched to crimson clover. The initial cost and constant maintence on the imperial and durana were too expensive for me. I prefer durana if I was closer and could keep up with the maintence

I vote durana, I mow it twice a year and it grows back thicker and taller each year

Make sure you have your pH right, esp for Ladino Clover; and soil with good moisture holding capacity. Imperial whitetail has some blends with both clover & chicory, if you go with them. If you buy separate: deer will feed much better on chicory that has white/green veins than the varieties with red stems/veins. Unfortunately, you can't tell what you're getting by the bag or the seed. I would suggest either Buckforage or Tecomate Chicory: both have been extensively tested on deer & are chosen based on palatability. Generic Oasis, etc... is kind of a crapshoot. Be sure to have your weeds & grasses under control, & use some balanced fertilizer & a nurse crop of cereal grain at establishment.

plots

i think the arguments on the annual clovers or perrenial clovers all depends on how much you are planting. if you are planting big areas (10 acres or more) I would go with the perrenials such as the imperial. i planted imperial 2 years ago and i will say that it takes 2 years before you really see it take off. i have not been impressed with it at all. HOWEVER......we are planting lots of very small plots so it makes sense for us to do annual plots of clovers, wheat, oats, rye, and brassicas. i think if we had bigger plots it would be a totally different result.

from an economical standpoint, you can buy rackmaster fall blend for $25 per bag and add some longer lasting clovers to it for foliage lasting later into spring and early summer and it is very economical for smaller plot sizes and areas.