How to Stop White Clover from Taking Over Your Lawn

If you have visions of a perfect expanse of green lawn, you may be disappointed when you discover patches of little white flowers popping up in early to mid-summer. What are these things? And how do you get rid of them ASAP?

These round flowers are white clover (Trifolium repens), a low-growing broadleaf perennial weed with creeping stems, which allow the plant to spread quickly. The flowers may be tinged with pink, while the foliage has three-leaflets with white V-marks that form a triangle when viewed from above.

Getting rid of clover is not a matter of lawn safety, but a question of aesthetics. "It's mainly about tolerance. Can you stand it?" says Clint Waltz, PhD, turfgrass specialist with the University of Georgia. "Like dandelions, clover can take over a lawn quickly if left unchecked. Homeowners often get annoyed by the patchy appearance clover gives a lawn because it has a different texture, color and growth rate from turfgrasses."

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While there's an if-you-can't beat-em-join-em trend toward planting clover as a sustainable lawn substitute, many people consider clover a weed and don’t want it anywhere near their lawns. In fact, clover lawns have their own set of pros and cons. "If you get weeds in a clover lawn, there's no selective product you can use that won't kill the clover, too," Waltz points out.

Clover also doesn't stand up to foot traffic as well as traditional lawns, so it's not great if you have pets or kids. On the plus side, it's drought-tolerant and attracts pollinators, such as honeybees, which is good—but maybe not so great if you like to walk barefoot.

Whether you're pro or con the white stuff, here's everything else you need to know about clover.

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How Do I Get Rid of Clover?

Clover is a tough plant, which actually used to be part of lawn seed mixes. It's also a legume so it’s a "nitrogen-fixer," meaning it can convert oxygen in the air into a form the plant can use as fertilizer, says Waltz. This superpower allows it to grow well even in poor or unfertilized soils.

That's a problem if tenacious clover isn't what you want on your lawn. The usual pre-emergent products which you apply in spring to prevent germination of other weeds, such as crabgrass, aren't useful on clover. You can dig up small clover plants by hand, but if it's already taken off, you'll need to treat with an herbicide, says Waltz.

To get rid of clover, treat it with a three-way product that contains 2-4, D, dicamba and MCPP. Some products also have additional active ingredients, such as triclopyr. Read the label to ensure the product is safe for your grass type, because not all products are safe to use on all kinds of grass. If you don't know what type of grass you have, your local university coop extension service (find yours here) can help you ID it so you don’t use the wrong product and damage your lawn.

Once you've picked the right product, follow the label instructions on the package. And stay vigilant; you'll probably need to make repeat applications and treat for clover every year to keep it in check.

Can I Prevent Clover from Taking Over My Lawn?

Making sure your lawn is thick and healthy is the best way to prevent any weed from growing rampantly. That means fertilizing so that grass gets what it requires; a lawn need at least 16 nutrients for normal growth.

Before fertilizing, do a soil test every few years so you know exactly what your lawn needs (or doesn’t), says Waltz. Otherwise, you're just wasting money and product. Your local coop extension service can perform soil tests for a small fee (often about $20).

Finally, mow at the correct height for the species of grass you have. Otherwise, repeated scalping causes grass to become sparse, leaving room for weeds to take over. A higher mowing height also allows roots to grow deeper, which helps grass better handle environmental stresses such as heat and cold, Waltz points out.