Removing Clover?

New here. Hope this is in the right place. Please let me know if it isn't.
My back garden lawn is covered in clover that I want to get rid of. We have two Guinea Pigs though that go out in a run and munch the grass. Is there a way of getting rid of the clover that will allow the animals to safely continue to eat the grass?
The animals live indoors and have to be taken out to their run, which I can move around the lawn. It will be therefore possible to avoid them going on it for a while.

Thanks

 

Hi.

I might be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure clover is harmless.

If the guinea pigs are grazing the grass, the grass will grow back thicker. Grass has evolved to be grazed. It thrives on it. It will ultimately out perform the clover, which will gradually just go away.

Alternatively, you could use a grass safe weed killer, but then you would have to keep your pets off for a while.

 

My late Uncle bred Guinea Pigs. I can remember as a little girl being asked by him to go and find both white and red Clover flowers to feed to the GP's as treats. I'm pretty sure he used to pick leaves for them too. If you still want rid of the Clover a selective broadleaf? weed killer should do the job but then as clueless has said you'd need to keep your pets off the grass for some time.

 

Nothing wrong with clover, in fact the opposite is the case! Grazing animals like to eat it and the bees like it too. It is a fixer of nitrogen which means that if your soil is low in nitrogen the clover will do well and add nitrogen to the soil so the grass does well. It has the amazing ability to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and transfer it to special nodules in the roots. How cool is that?! Soil low in nitrogen will attract clover and then as the nitrogen level improves, the grass will out compete the clover and it will have a tendency to die off.....then as nitrogen levels fall off, it will reappear....so it goes. With guinea pigs peeing and pooing the nitrogen will also enrich the soil. So just leave it, clover is a really good and really useful plant.

 

Clover can be bad for glaving animals, to much can lead to bloat (gas in the stomach) and they can die if nowt is done, red clover is worse then white

 

What is "glaving"?

 

I presume Jiffy meant 'grazing'
The Guinea Pigs ignore the clover and eat the grass round it.
It sounds from the above advice though that the soil needs the clover and it will sort itself in time.
Thanks for the advice

 

Welcome to GC David. It normally takes about six to eight weeks for a weed killer to leave the soil and lawn. Perhaps you could treat half the lawn at a time.

 

Sorry i mean grazing, i'm no good at spelling and

 

Ditto

 

I would love clover in my lawn, seeded last year with clover but not many took, fingers crossed this year. I dont know why you would want to get rid of it, it wont do the GPs any harm.

 

Don't feed your lawn for a while, and top dress with sand prior to scattering clover seed.

A well fed lawn will produce grass that out-competes clover, and the sand is very low in nutrients but easy for young roots to establish in.

What type of clover did you use? Some are easier than others. Crimson clover for example is lovely, but it's too wimpy to stand a chance in grass. Our native clovers on the other hand are much tougher.

As an aside, I've tried and tried to get birdsfoot trefoil to establish, with no luck whatsoever yet. I think I need more sand and more sun for that one.