Bartolo Bladder Clover

We recommend Bartolo Bladder Clover for low to medium rainfall rotations. It is an aerial-seeding, self-regenerating annual suited to 325 to 500mm areas with winter-dominant rain. Its high hard seed levels let it regenerate after cropping, which suits phase farming systems.

Bartolo Bladder Clover is a good alternative. It is well adapted to mildly acid and alkaline sandy loam and loam soils and is generally more widely adapted than sub clover or medic. It produces more dry matter and seeds prolifically for persistence. It won't tolerate prolonged waterlogging or salinity.

On dryland we recommend 10 to 15 kg/ha of Bartolo as a single species, or 15 to 20 kg/ha in high rainfall or irrigated situations. In mixes, use 1 to 5 kg/ha. Sow shallow at about 0.5cm, inoculate with Group C and roll after sowing if you can.

We recommend sowing Bartolo Bladder Clover shallow, at about 0.5cm, as close to the autumn break as possible. Rolling after sowing helps. Sow with 100 to 150 kg/ha superphosphate, or super and potash on sandy soils, and inoculate the seed with Group C inoculant.

We suggest Bartolo Bladder Clover. Its high level of hard seed means only part of the seedbank germinates on an early rain, so the stand survives a false break. It flowers around 105 days in Perth, and many seeds even survive passing through sheep.

Bartolo Bladder Clover is suited to sheep, beef cattle and horses. Its formononetin and genistein levels are lower than in sub clover, so it is unlikely to cause phyto-oestrogen problems in ewes. It can cause bloat in cattle in very pure swards, so we suggest mixing it with other species.

Bartolo Bladder Clover tolerates heavy grazing, especially in winter. Reduce the stocking rate at flowering to protect seed set, which drives regeneration. Its spring feed is highly digestible, with around 22% crude protein, similar in feeding value to sub clover, and quality declines as it senesces.

Bartolo Bladder Clover is less affected by red-legged earth mite than sub clover or medics and is moderately tolerant of blue green aphid and lucerne flea. It has little sensitivity to clover scorch. However, it is sensitive to bromoxynil, Spinnaker and Raptor, so check your herbicide plan with us.

Bartolo Bladder Clover mixes well with sub clover, biserrula, serradella, crimson, rose and gland clovers and annual medics, plus Italian and perennial ryegrass. Our Casbah Biserrula, Hykon Rose Clover or a serradella such as Margurita are good companions. In mixes, sow Bartolo at 1 to 5 kg/ha.

Both are bladder clovers we stock. Bartolo flowers around 105 days, suits 325 to 500mm rainfall and has a more prostrate habit. Diamanti flowers earlier (about 95 days in Perth), is more upright, has harder seed for false-break resilience, and suits drier parts of the eastern wheatbelt.