The horn trefoil is a beautiful butterfly plant that is striking thanks to its bright yellow flowers. As nice as the small perennial may be to look at, its presence in the lawn is all the more annoying - especially since the plant spreads very quickly. We'll tell you how you can emerge victorious in this fight.
How can you remove and prevent horn trefoil in the lawn?
To combat horn trefoil in the lawn, cutting out the plant and its roots is the most effective method. As a preventative measure, the lawn should be fertilized regularly to prevent nutrient deficiency situations.
The only thing that helps against stubborn horn trefoil is usually cutting it out
Scarifying is usually recommended against clover in the lawn - but the otherwise effective method is a waste of time for both horn clover and wood sorrel. The stubborn and very stubborn horn trefoil can only be removed by thorough digging or digging out, in which you dig out or dig out all parts of the plant including their roots. To do this, you can use a digging fork (€42.00 on Amazon) or a weed wrench. The resulting bare spots are covered with fresh soil and lawn seed.
Weed killer against horn clover
Now cutting out is a tedious and time-consuming method, especially since you really have more than enough to do with larger lawns covered with horn trefoil. Those who are completely desperate resort to commercially available lawn weed killers, which often don't stop at the lawn itself. The lawn then often has to be re-seeded to fill in the bare spots. Be careful not to mow before applying the weed killer - the more material there is to attack, the greater the success. In addition, it must not rain on this day, otherwise the pesticide will simply be washed off and therefore remain useless.
Prevention is better than destruction
As is often the case in life, prevention is better than cure (in this case, destruction), of course this also applies to rampant horn trefoil carpets in the lawn. Like all types of clover, horn trefoil is a sign that your lawn is lacking nutrients, especially nitrogen. Ergo, you can prevent horn trefoil growth by regularly and adequately supplying your lawn with appropriate fertilizer. This measure is of course also advisable to improve the nutrient supply after clover control measures.
Tip
The application of so-called weed-killing films or fleeces is also effective, but also with regard to the destruction of all other life. These no longer allow any light to pass through and thus ensure that the plants die due to the lack of photosynthesis. However, this also applies to your lawn and all other covered plants.
