When do you think the last cut of the season will be?
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We've had a couple deep frosts here in CT. Woke up to temps in the single digits this week. Looks like the grass is done growing, but I have a few more leaf mulch sessions for a maple that sheds her leaves late.
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Walking on actively growing grass that is frozen at this time of year can damage the grass blades, causing them to turn brown. Wait for the grass and ground to thaw out again before mowing.GoPre said:
We're at the time of year here in New Hampshire, where night-time temperatures fall to about 20-25F and the soil surface freezes overnight, but then the next day the temperature climbs to about 40F and everything thaws out again. Mow in the time when the grass isn't frozen...
Don't know exactly but it will be soon. I'll mow again this Thursday on my short day and check for clippings. I was going to apply winterizier this morning as it's supposed to rain tomorrow. But, I don't want to force it either.
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It's very clear to me that actively-growing grass that is frozen by an early frost and walked upon while frozen becomes damaged and turning brown.JohnP said:
However, it's also clear to me up here in New Hampshire that walking on the lawn long after top growth has stopped, say in February, even in areas where the snow on top has been cleared off by the wind or a snow plow, doesn't appear to cause any harm to the grass.
What isn't clear to me is how long the grass needs to have "hardened off" to become tolerant of wear while it is frozen. I speculate that the "freshly-frozen" grass blades in fall are quite different from the grass blades in mid-winter. It seems to me that the mid-winter grass blades are much drier and remain flexible (bending without breaking) instead of being crunchy, frozen spikes as they during frost events in late fall.
I know that last year about two to three weeks after top growth stopped, whatever snow we had received in early December had melted and we had a few days in the low 40s during which the grass all thawed out. I made a final mowing of the lawn at 2.75" HOC (down from my normal fall HOC of 3.25") in an attempt to lessen the amount of grass blade which would get matted down and susceptible to snow mold. This also mulched up newly fallen leaves. This mowing did not appear to result in any harm to the grass, but I had done this on a day when the grass and ground were not frozen.
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Mowed the front lawn at my normal fall cutting height of 3.25" and found that there had been no growth since last week. No growth in the side or back, either, so I'm dropping the mowing height for the side and back to 2.75" for their final mow today. I'll drop the height in front to 2.75" after Thanksgiving, as I'll still need to mulch up more leaves there again, anyway.
By the way, I should note that the surface of the soil has been freezing here nearly every night for the past 10 days. The overnight low here has been <32F for 9 of the last 10 nights (the one exception was a low of 35F on a day with a high of 39F) and the warmest day in that entire stretch had a high of only 48F:
PS: For showing actual temps in a convenient format, I like the "month view" at http://accuweather.com
By the way, I should note that the surface of the soil has been freezing here nearly every night for the past 10 days. The overnight low here has been <32F for 9 of the last 10 nights (the one exception was a low of 35F on a day with a high of 39F) and the warmest day in that entire stretch had a high of only 48F:
Code:
Actual Temps (not just a forecast)
Date High / Low
Wed 11/08 47°/29°
Thu 11/09 48°/27°
Fri 11/10 45°/23°
Sat 11/11 36°/20°
Sun 11/12 44°/23°
Mon 11/13 36°/29°
Tue 11/14 39°/35°
Wed 11/15 46°/30°
Thu 11/16 43°/30°
Fri 11/17 41°/29°1 - 19 of 19 Posts
