permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@metalab.unc.edu>]

Anyone have any comments on this?
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 17:40:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Randy <donahuer@ols.net>
To: london@metalab.unc.edu
Subject: Rose Clover Performance

Hello:
                  I was looking over the net through government, academic,
and commercial sites for information regarding Rose clover, and I wasnt too
successful. I am looking specifically for information about its cold
tolerance, possible cold-tolerant cultivars, and how it would perform in the
piedmont region of NC. Where can we find U.S. suppliers of this clover's
seed? How would certain forages such as grama sideoats and meadow brome
perform in this state with various mixtures that also contained small white
clovers, less invasive creeping fescues, and the aforementioned rose clover?
These plants were chosen by me because of the fact that they are all
perennial, just invasive enough to be persistant, and can be grazed short
within an intensive rotational grazing program. The need is to match the
legumes( two short clovers) with short grasses that don't overwhelm them.
This will hopefully allow the cattle to be pulled out of each paddock just
as the length of forage becomes ideal for pasturing poultry. The broadleaf
clovers will be preferred by the hens. Another of advantage of these
mixtures underneath a low density orchard is that the clovers can regenerate
flowers during a timed rest period, providing an alternative source of bee
forage for the landowners hives. A surplus of honey generated by the clovers
could offset the cost of keeping hives to pollinate the owner's fruit trees.
An additional season long source of honey is needed to compensate for the
short early period that most fruit trees bloom.
                  Another solution would be to select more than one ideal
cultivar of (apple)tree that represented extreme differences of blooming
times. Otherwise, the combination of rose and white clovers might help a
great deal. The cool-season oriented growth of the white clover, which would

look like a u-shaped curve over the growing season, would be offset by the
warm-season advantages of the rose clover. What are your thoughts on these
matters?

                                                      -Donahue