How to Get Rid of Clover in Your Lawn
Clover is a perennial broadleaf weed that spreads by stolons across the soil surface and produces seeds from its white flower heads. It is one of the more persistent broadleaf weeds in home lawns because it fixes its own nitrogen from the air, giving it a competitive advantage on low-fertility turf, and because it has moderate resistance to 2,4-D herbicide when used alone. Getting rid of clover requires either correcting the underlying low-nitrogen condition that gives it a competitive edge, applying the right combination herbicide, or both.
Why Clover Grows in Lawns
White clover (Trifolium repens) is a nitrogen-fixing legume. Its root nodules contain bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form the plant can use, meaning clover does not need nitrogen from the soil or from fertilizer to thrive. In a well-fertilized lawn where turfgrasses can access abundant nitrogen, clover loses the competitive advantage that makes it so persistent, dense, nitrogen-fed grass shades the soil surface and leaves few gaps for clover to establish.
A clover-heavy lawn is often a lawn that is consistently under-fertilized. Improving the nitrogen supply and building turf density is not just a cosmetic improvement, it changes the competitive conditions that favor or disfavor clover establishment.
That said, in lawns that are being fertilized correctly but still have established clover, herbicide treatment is the most direct control approach.
Herbicide Control
Why 2,4-D Alone Is Often Insufficient
Clover has moderate resistance to 2,4-D used as a single active ingredient. While 2,4-D does provide some suppression, a single 2,4-D application often causes visible damage to clover foliage but does not fully kill the plant. The stolon network and root system survive and regenerate.
Products that combine 2,4-D with dicamba and MCPP (mecoprop) are more effective on clover than 2,4-D alone because the three active ingredients attack different biochemical pathways, reducing the plant’s ability to recover.
Best Herbicide Options for Clover
Three-way broadleaf herbicide (2,4-D + dicamba + MCPP): Products such as Spectracide Weed Stop for Lawns, Ortho Weed B Gon, and Bayer Advanced All-in-One Lawn Weed Killer provide the combination chemistry that gives better clover control than single-active-ingredient products.
Triclopyr-containing products: Triclopyr improves control of clover and other broadleaf weeds that are moderately resistant to 2,4-D. Products containing triclopyr alongside 2,4-D and dicamba (such as Pennington UltraGreen Weed and Feed with triclopyr) are among the most effective options for stubborn clover patches.
Clopyralid: Clopyralid is highly effective on legumes, including clover, and is available in some consumer products (such as Ortho Weed B Gon Clover, Oxalis and Clover Killer). It translocates efficiently through the plant and is more reliable on established perennial clover than combination broadleaf products.
Timing the Application
Clover control is most effective in two windows:
Spring (active growing phase): Apply when clover is actively growing and has at least several leaves present. Young, actively growing clover absorbs systemic herbicide efficiently and the treatment is more likely to kill the root system.
Fall (transloaction phase): Fall is often the more effective timing for perennial broadleaf weeds including clover. As temperatures cool, perennial plants move carbohydrates and nutrients toward their root systems in preparation for winter. Systemic herbicides applied in early fall travel more efficiently to the root system, increasing the likelihood of full kill rather than top-growth suppression followed by regrowth.
Avoid application in summer heat or when clover is drought-stressed, reduced metabolic activity limits herbicide uptake.
Application Method
Apply as a foliar spray using a pump sprayer or hose-end sprayer. Thoroughly wet the clover foliage, the herbicide is absorbed through the leaf surface. A non-ionic surfactant (or a small amount of dish soap) added to the spray solution improves adhesion on clover’s waxy, hydrophobic leaf surface, which can cause water and spray to bead off.
Do not mow for three to four days before or after application. Wait for the herbicide to translocate before mowing removes the treated foliage.
Multiple applications spaced three to four weeks apart are typically needed for well-established clover patches. Expect to see wilting and yellowing within one to two weeks, with full visible die-off over three to four weeks.
Manual Removal for Small Patches
Clover spreads by stolons across the soil surface. For small patches, pulling the stolon network by hand or with a hand weeder is feasible if done thoroughly. Remove the entire stolon mat including rooted nodes. Any rooted sections left in the soil will re-establish.
Hand removal is most practical in spring when soil is moist and stolon networks have not yet expanded into large, interconnected mats. On established patches covering more than a few square feet, chemical treatment is more reliable than manual removal.
Long-Term Prevention
The most sustainable clover prevention strategy is a lawn fertilization program that keeps turf nitrogen levels high enough to outcompete clover’s nitrogen-fixing advantage. Regular fertilization per the schedule in lawn fertilizer schedule by season and grass type maintains the turf density and nitrogen availability that disfavors clover establishment.
Overseeding thin or bare patches prevents the open ground that clover colonizes most readily. Dense, well-maintained turf is the most effective long-term buffer against clover regrowth after successful herbicide treatment.