Frost Seeding Done Right

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about frost seeding lately and I thought now would be a good time to discuss some dos and don’ts when it comes to frost seeding. First off, frost seeding is the process of spreading seeds on a plot you wish to establish or rejuvenate where you let the freeze/thaw cycle help work the seeds into the top part of the soil. Here is as example of an established field of Clover Plus Chicory where gophers roughed up parts of the plot and is now a perfect spot to frost seed to fill in the bare spots:

Seeds have evolved to naturally germinate this way so that is why the process works so well, but not every seed is great for this technique. Here are my 3 favorite seed blends for frost seeding:

1.     Pro Clover:  This blend contains 6 different clover varieties and is a perennial powerhouse. The small clover seeds are ideal for using the frost seeding technique.

2.     Clover Plus Chicory:  This has all the same seeds as Pro Clover but with the addition of a drought tolerant chicory. Chicory is also very shade tolerant so this is perfect for plots tucked into the woods that may not receive as much sunlight.

3.     Clover Plus Alfalfa:  This blend has the same clovers as Pro Clover but also has the addition of several deer-friendly alfalfas, one of which is a yellow-blossom creeping variety. It’s the best of both worlds because if it is a dry year the alfalfa shines but in a wet year the clover outperforms.

The hardest part about frost seeding is knowing when is going to be the last good few days of frost. This year, there have been extreme warm days in early February well into the north and it may have felt like a good time to frost seed, but the risk you take when frost seeding too early is that if a warm up happens followed by another frost, the seeds may germinate during the warm up with enough moisture. This could lead to the plot getting frosted out before it ever had a chance to thrive. 

For forecasting when the likely last string of frosts will be, I like to use the this frost calculator combined with the 10 day forecast from weather.com both of which you can search by zip code.

If your area is too far south to get anymore frost don’t panic, you can still get a good stand a clover to grow you just won’t have the freeze/thaw cycle to get seeds into the soil. You might need to do things like light tillage, or the throw and mow technique where you spread the seeds then mow any grasses/weeds to allow sunlight to reach seedlings after they germinate. This will require a good soaking rain for the germination to kick start. As always, make sure to get a soil test and amend your soil with lime and fertilizer ahead of planting season. If you didn’t have time to do that you can at planting time, but that isn’t optimal. Reach out to us if you have any questions about what to plant and how to do it right. Good luck and happy plotting!