Clover in Your Lawn: Keep It or Get Rid of It?
The short answer
Whether to keep clover is mostly about what you want, because the plant itself is beneficial. White clover is a legume that fixes its own nitrogen and shares it with the surrounding lawn, so it reduces the need for fertilizer; it also flowers for pollinators and tends to stay greener than grass during drought. For a low-input or bee-friendly lawn, that makes it an asset rather than a weed.
The reasons people remove it are real but preference-based: the flowers attract bees that can sting bare feet, the clover patches can look uneven against turf, and in thin lawns it can spread and dominate. None of these are plant-health problems; they are aesthetic and use-of-the-lawn concerns.
If you decide to reduce it, you do not necessarily need to nuke the lawn. Clover thrives where grass is thin and underfed, so regular fertilization (especially fall nitrogen) and mowing on the higher side favor the grass and hold clover back. If you want to keep it, simply let it be, or overseed with more clover for a fuller stand.
The case for keeping it
Clover earns its place agronomically. As a legume, white clover fixes nitrogen from the air and makes it available in the soil, which means it does not need nitrogen fertilizer and can feed the grass growing alongside it, a real benefit in a low-input lawn. Its flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators, and it tends to hold its green color in dry spells better than turfgrass, reducing irrigation demand.
Because low-growing white clover tolerates mowing, you can keep a mixed clover-and-grass lawn and mow it normally while still supporting pollinators. This is exactly why 'bee lawns' deliberately include white clover, and why it was a normal ingredient in lawn seed before selective weed killers made an all-grass lawn the fashion.
The case for removing it
The downsides are about people, not plant health. Clover flowers attract foraging bees, which is wonderful for pollinators but means more chance of a sting for anyone walking barefoot or for young children playing on the lawn. Some homeowners also simply dislike the mottled look of clover patches in an otherwise uniform lawn, and in thin or stressed turf clover can spread and take over.
If those matter to you, that is a legitimate reason to manage it down, but it is a preference decision. There is no health reason you must remove clover from a lawn.
How to shift the balance
- To favor grass over clover: fertilize the lawn, especially with fall nitrogen, since clover exploits low-nitrogen soils.
- Raise the mowing height (around 3 inches or more) so taller grass shades and outcompetes low clover.
- Keep turf dense and healthy; clover fills gaps in thin lawns, so thick grass is the best long-term control.
- To keep clover, do nothing special, or overseed with white or microclover for a fuller, self-fertilizing stand (see the microclover guide).
- For outright removal in an all-grass lawn, broadleaf weed products are available; follow the label and your Extension office.
→ Fixing the conditions clover exploits (low fertility, thin turf) does more than any single treatment. A thick, properly fed lawn naturally carries far less clover.
Sources
Reviewed 2026-07-18. We cite university Extension, government, and established horticultural sources — and never invent pesticide rates or dangerous treatments.
- University of Minnesota Extension - Dutch White Clover — White clover is a nitrogen-fixing legume that adds nitrogen to the soil and does not need nitrogen fertilizer; some view it as desirable for its nitrogen fixation and attractiveness to pollinators while others treat it as a weed; regular fertilization (especially fall nitrogen) and raising mowing height to 3 inches or more help reduce clover in a lawn.
- University of Minnesota Extension - Planting and maintaining a bee lawn — Low-growing white clover can be mowed and still provide forage for pollinators; bee lawns use white clover for its nitrogen fixation, bloom length, and forage quality for bees, and its flowers supply pollen and nectar while the plant fixes its own nitrogen.