Posted in Seeding, Stress, tagged Seeding on August 13, 2012|
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There has been widespread rain over the past week for most regions of the province. As a result, most turf areas have greened up surprisingly quickly and thoroughly. It is estimated that 90% of the turf that was dormant is actively growing again. It is refreshing to know that the rules of thumb that we work with have held where turf and dormancy is concerned. Turfgrass specialists estimate that turf can go 4-6 weeks without significant rainfall and still survive. In many areas of Ontario we were reaching that mark by the time the rains finally came.
What about the turf that isn’t coming back? There are several reasons why turf might not be coming back. Some of those reasons are:
- insect damage (bluegrass billbug or hairy chinch bug damage)
- south facing slopes or other areas that are prone to water runoff
- dormant turf that was heavily trafficked
- turf growing on very light textured soils (sand)
- new seedings (areas that were seeded last fall)
- immature sod (areas that were sodded last fall)
What can you do with those areas of dead turf? Now is a good time to seed those damaged areas. Mow the turf a bit lower than normal and rake the dead areas. You can select grasses to match your current turf or use this as an opportunity to chose a different species to improve the performance of the turf you already have. The link below outlines some of the grass species mixtures for a variety of conditions (sun, shade, irrigated, un-irrigated).
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/08-025w.htm
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