Clovers: Lucky for the Environment - GreenAnswers (blog)

Clovers are a popular symbol of Ireland and figure prominently in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the world. However, clovers are more than just a symbol; they can also provide various environmental benefits.

One of the most important environmental benefits clovers have is that they can hold soil in place through a deep root system. This prevents erosion, which means the soil can keep the nutrients it already has and provide a secure place for other plants to grow. It is hard for plants to grow on soil that has been eroded away. If plants cannot grow, then species that eat plants will not want to live there and the climate of the area will eventually be affected. Clovers also prevent nutrients in the soil from going into rivers and streams.  

Clovers can be particularly useful for organic farming, where crop rotation is used in place of fertilizers. In crop rotation, crops that restore nutrients to the soil are planted for a few years after crops that drain nutrients from it. Clovers may also be eaten by animals such as cows and horses on farms which practice crop rotation. These animals produce manure from it, which naturally fertilizes soil.

Clovers can restore the soil’s nutrients through nitrogen fixation. In this process, bacteria on a plant’s roots convert atmospheric nitrogen (N²) into ammonium (NH₄+) or nitrate (NO₃-) ions which can be used by plants. All plants need nitrogen to grow; too little of it can stunt their growth. As mentioned above, plants’ nitrogen fixation also reduces the need for fertilizers, which add nitrogen to the soil artificially.

But did you know that clovers are also used as food for a variety of bug species? Indeed, having a diverse variety of bug species in your yard can help keep the overall insect population down. This is because a wider variety of predators will be attracted as well as prey. Clearly, clovers are a more sustainable choice for a lawn than grass because it creates a more diverse habitat for bugs to live in.

Some bugs which are attracted by clovers include parasitoid wasps. These wasps normally do not sting people; instead, their larvae feed off of insects which are destructive to plants such as aphids, scales, and whiteflies. White sweet clovers and red clovers can also provide food for certain species of ladybugs. Ladybugs love to eat aphids; in fact, one ladybug can eat up to 1000 aphids a day!

Although bees can and do feed off clovers, they rarely sting outside of their hive, and you can limit the amount of bees in your clover by mowing your lawn more often when your clovers are flowering. Another good reason to consider clovers for your yard is that they can remain green even when pets urinate on it. And in case you are wondering, clovers are not weeds; rather, they are harmless plants that can easily be damaged by weed killers.

Speaking of bees, clover honey can also be made when bees turn the nectar from clover flowers into honey. Beekeepers may place their hives in areas where many clovers grow or plant more clovers around their hives to maximize the amount of clover nectar available to the bees. But since bees often travel for long distances, there is no guarantee that their honey comes entirely from clover flowers. This kind of honey may range in color from pale amber to nearly white, and large quantities of it are produced in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand.   

And for the record, four-leaf clovers exist. However, they only occur at a rate of 1 in 10,000, so you have to be really lucky to find one!

Photo sources: Tony Willis, Phyzome

via news.google.com