If you own or lease hunting property and manage for whitetails and wild turkeys, then you’ve likely heard of frost seeding. It’s an easy and inexpensive technique to establish a clover plot, as well as freshen up an existing green field.

Frost seeding is typically performed after snow has melted in the Midwest and North, when temperatures drop below freezing at night and then warm above freezing during the day. It’s the freeze/thaw sequence that causes the ground to shrink and expand, drawing tiny clover seed into the ground, ensuring good seed-to-soil contact. One reason you might want to wait for snow to melt and frost seed instead of snow seed is it allows you to examine an existing green plot so you aren’t spreading expensive seed on areas that already have a strong clover base.

Snow seeding is simply a way of getting a head start on frost seeding. In the YouTube video below, Daniel Mallette of Growing Deer TV demonstrates the technique on an existing clover plot in Missouri. Because clover seed is hard and daily temps are cold at the time of Daniel’s planting, the seed can sit on the snow for up to a couple weeks without germinating, then after the snow melts, the seed will come in contact with the ground. Next, the typical freeze/thaw cycle during early spring will draw the seed into the ground. Snow seeding makes it easy for you to spread clover seed evenly over the plot (you can see your boot tracks in the snow), and the seed gets the full moisture benefit of the melting snow. 

Throughout much of whitetail country, now is the perfect time to either snow seed or frost seed. The only tool needed is a handheld broadcast spreader. Daniel provides a good tip in the video regarding choosing a good one; spoiler — the best spreaders for tiny clover seed are inexpensive and widely available.