Before I started verticutting regularly on my old 419 and I would do my Spring scalp. There would literally be a mat of stolons on the ground. This is not what you want if you are reel mowing as it will cause the mower to float and will cause the lawn to be spongy.

 

Revising an old thread. @Mightyquinn , @Redtwin , @viva_oldtrafford , do the stolons die off during winter dormancy along with the rest of the plant above the ground or do they just go dormant and start regrowing from where they left off? The reason I ask is I have a lot of new growth from stolons spreading into weak areas and trying to decide how to sustain these going into winter and then continue in the spring.

 

stolons do break down over time, they then become part of the thatch layer. However, they can also hang out for quite a while, making new / multiple growing points. Anyone who's done a real scalp will tell you that despite removing most of the crown from the plant, deep, down in the canopy those stolons are still there. verticutting will cut them, yes, but if they're tacked down, they will continue to chug right along, making new plants / growing points along the way

 

From the little I read about verticutting, cutting the old worn out stolons is good because it encourages new stolons to grow? What determines whether or not a stolon just chugs along healthy and continues to make new heads vs the ones that sorta peeter out? I noticed in my yard the last year or so a long of really sickly, old worn out looking runners that were all flappy.

I think years of the lawn being mowed too high somehow caused the phenomenon and I've tried just eliminating them when i see them.

 

Verticutting creates new growth points for both roots and top growth. You will usually see the long runners in weaker areas that have surrounding grass spreading into them or grass that has been kept at a higher HOC. A good verticut and top dress is what I usually do in those cases.

 

Revising an old thread. @Mightyquinn , @Redtwin , @viva_oldtrafford , do the stolons die off during winter dormancy along with the rest of the plant above the ground or do they just go dormant and start regrowing from where they left off? The reason I ask is I have a lot of new growth from stolons spreading into weak areas and trying to decide how to sustain these going into winter and then continue in the spring.

I don't believe the stolons die off during the winter as new growth will start at the stolons and rhizomes come Spring time. I wouldn't worry too much about Winter kill as it would take a very extreme cold snap to damage any of them.

 

stolons do break down over time, they then become part of the thatch layer. However, they can also hang out for quite a while, making new / multiple growing points. Anyone who's done a real scalp will tell you that despite removing most of the crown from the plant, deep, down in the canopy those stolons are still there. verticutting will cut them, yes, but if they're tacked down, they will continue to chug right along, making new plants / growing points along the way

Very true. I murder my lawn when I scalp until I see roots. Here's a small section I did recently:

 

So its the crazy amounts of stolons that cause the lawn to feel spongy and reel mower to float? goodness, THATS my issue. Looks like ill have to invest in a verticutter.

 

So its the crazy amounts of stolons that cause the lawn to feel spongy and reel mower to float? goodness, THATS my issue. Looks like ill have to invest in a verticutter.

Yes, and then youll start to get scalp spots easier as well.

 

So its the crazy amounts of stolons that cause the lawn to feel spongy and reel mower to float? goodness, THATS my issue. Looks like ill have to invest in a verticutter.

That and heavy thatch layer. I've "scalped" many times by just going down to an 1/8th inch or so. It always stayed spongy. Unless I dethatch in multiple directions and scalp to just below surface level, only then does the sponginess go away.

On a side note, going that far down (for me at least) makes leveling much easier. I can use existing soil to level out some and end up not having to add much sand. At least once a year I do this and helps to keep the lawn right at sidewalk level so the mower rolls off and on with ease. I can't stand it when it gets high over the sidewalk from leveling over the years.

 

So its the crazy amounts of stolons that cause the lawn to feel spongy and reel mower to float? goodness, THATS my issue. Looks like ill have to invest in a verticutter.

That and heavy thatch layer. I've "scalped" many times by just going down to an 1/8th inch or so. It always stayed spongy. Unless I dethatch in multiple directions and scalp to just below surface level, only then does the sponginess go away.

On a side note, going that far down (for me at least) makes leveling much easier. I can use existing soil to level out some and end up not having to add much sand. At least once a year I do this and helps to keep the lawn right at sidewalk level so the mower rolls off and on with ease. I can't stand it when it gets high over the sidewalk from leveling over the years.

Just below the surface? This doesnt dig up roots does it? I might have to PM you to learn your process of dethatching/scalping.

 

Just look up fraze mowing. This will give you an idea of just how aggressive you can get while scalping.

 

So its the crazy amounts of stolons that cause the lawn to feel spongy and reel mower to float? goodness, THATS my issue. Looks like ill have to invest in a verticutter.

That and heavy thatch layer. I've "scalped" many times by just going down to an 1/8th inch or so. It always stayed spongy. Unless I dethatch in multiple directions and scalp to just below surface level, only then does the sponginess go away.

On a side note, going that far down (for me at least) makes leveling much easier. I can use existing soil to level out some and end up not having to add much sand. At least once a year I do this and helps to keep the lawn right at sidewalk level so the mower rolls off and on with ease. I can't stand it when it gets high over the sidewalk from leveling over the years.

Just below the surface? This doesnt dig up roots does it? I might have to PM you to learn your process of dethatching/scalping.

It doesn't "dig" them up but it does expose them from being cut. Here is the same patch pictured above about 3 weeks later. Still some filling to do but it should be full in about a week. This is really the only way for me to be able to cut at 1/4 inch and keep it green.

 

@Mightyquinn - how often are you verticutting these days?

 

@Mightyquinn - how often are you verticutting these days?

Only in the Springtime so far recently. I never rule it out and might do it before a sand leveling next year.

 

Seems like verticutting is more important than I thought. I'm assuming much like regular dethatching it shouldn't be done around dormancy and probably better to do in the mid spring when the lawn is actively growing right?

 

I wouldn't do it around dormancy because you could be looking at lines in your turf all winter and making room for weeds to establish. I would say every six weeks when grass is growing like crazy.

 

@Mightyquinn @Redtwin Not to change the subject but sort of along the same lines.

I have always wondered what happens to the top growth of the lawn when it goes dormant. For a simple example imagine plugging just one grass plug in the summertime. It grows nice and green all summer then that plug goes dormant.

When spring rolls back around does the actual grass sticking above ground that is dormant turn back green? Or does that grass just decompose and the new green growth comes from below ground?

Hope that makes sense?

 

@ENC_Lawn Makes perfect sense. The brown dormant blades do not green back up which is why we have to cut them off in a scalp. I believe the new growth comes up from the rhizomes and any stems/stolens that did not go fully dormant. If you don't scalp, you would have lots of new green coming out of the stolons side by side with the brown dormant blades.

 

Yeah before I got into lawns I just assumed the brown stuff turned green again but as I learned the brown stuff stays brown, it's basically just last years dead growth. The plant itself is still alive and will grow again and the old brown stuff is essentially just clutter in the way which is why scalping the lawn when it begins coming out of dormancy speeds up the process and makes it look better, just gets all the old junk out of the way.

If you never scalped a lawn last year's old growth eventually gets broken down and gradually wears away naturally, but that process might take weeks or months and its presence is basically just making your yard look worse and crowding out new growth from thriving.

 

@ENC_Lawn Makes perfect sense. The brown dormant blades do not green back up which is why we have to cut them off in a scalp. I believe the new growth comes up from the rhizomes and any stems/stolens that did not go fully dormant. If you don't scalp, you would have lots of new green coming out of the stolons side by side with the brown dormant blades.

@Redtwin Thank you for the explanation!