Reminder: "The Pause"

[nothing0]

Sounds like it is fairly forgiving. I'll probably do it later (if at all). My lawn will likely be > 3 months old by the time I winterize, so I'm not terribly concerned about harming my grass with some iron.

I saw you have some tttf...start with a half rate or less if spraying fescue.

[Jackpine]

Did the deed today. Had to run up to the local Farmer's Exchange to pick up the Urea as I was out. $13.75 for 50# and gassed up for $3.25 a gal.

Nice! Dropped in Central Lake...must mean I'm close to dropping time too. You buy your Urea in Ellsworth?

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Yup, handy place to have close by.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Sounds like it is fairly forgiving. I'll probably do it later (if at all). My lawn will likely be > 3 months old by the time I winterize, so I'm not terribly concerned about harming my grass with some iron.

I saw you have some tttf...start with a half rate or less if spraying fescue.

Frankly, I'm not sure WHAT all I have in the backyard - I just know that I've tried overseeding TTTF at some point, and def have a bit of PR.

I did a 2oz Fe / K rate of FAS on it not too long ago and didn't see a big improvement. There was some slate color on one little spot but it was some sort of unwanted poa or weed. So, I'm going to up it to a 3 oz Fe / K FAS rate next time. I'm thinking it's mostly a KBG hodge podge of Pennington Premium seed that I have.

No worries though, I'll fix that with a renovation next fall. (pssssst - keep it on the DL with HoosierLawnGnome-ette)

[Ben]

Cut for the first time since 8 days ago and still getting top growth here North of the 45th parallel...but I feel it may be getting close. I have not put down any synthetics/SBM/alfalfa or Milo since Sept. Went to the local Co-op today and bought the last of the 46-0-0. Only 37# left and lawn is 25,265 sq ft.

Going to have to do the rest with 32-0-10 unless I find another source for Urea.

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[Blazez99]

I had a question about the timing of winterizing. I understand the throw away the calendar do what the grass is telling you concept - and the consensus seems to be that the ideal time to feed is the second the grass stops growing....

But I was looking through some old posts and found this from Morpheus

http://aroundtheyard.com/northern/early ... tml#p13809

Should we be trying to time our drop to be 4-6+ days before growth stops? Where I am, the time between the end of top growth and the ground freezing over can happen in that same 4-6 day window. If I drop the day growth stops, but the ground freezes over 3 days later, have I missed my chance because the urea hasn't activated or am I misinterpreting what Morph said?

[jglongisland]

I had a question about the timing of winterizing. I understand the throw away the calendar do what the grass is telling you concept - and the consensus seems to be that the ideal time to feed is the second the grass stops growing....

But I was looking through some old posts and found this from Morpheus

http://aroundtheyard.com/northern/early ... tml#p13809

Should we be trying to time our drop to be 4-6+ days before growth stops? Where I am, the time between the end of top growth and the ground freezing over can happen in that same 4-6 day window. If I drop the day growth stops, but the ground freezes over 3 days later, have I missed my chance because the urea hasn't activated or am I misinterpreting what Morph said?

a week in either direction is going to make that big a difference.

[BoatDr]

Hey JG, do you hold off winterizing the irrigation until you've dropped ?


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[jglongisland]

Hey JG, do you hold off winterizing the irrigation until you've dropped ?


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I push it out as far as I can, but on my front hill I really have to rely on mother nature as it grows well into December (I've mowed it as late as xmas day). Its not an all or nothing feeding, if the grass is growing slowly than a lot of the N is being stored in the roots. Either way, the day before I get blown out I put down a heavy dose of urea on the entire lawn (this year they get blown out on 11/22). After I see top growth stop on the hill I spread another a few pounds and let nature do what it can.

That hill stay green for most of the winter and greens up before anything else.

I also spray FAS almost weekly now until December to help turn the leaf mulch black (and break down).

[BoatDr]

I'm guessing that you don't get your FAS components locally ?


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[jglongisland]

I'm guessing that you don't get your FAS components locally ?


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I got them from Kelp4Less.

Alternatively you could buy a bottle of Iron spray from Lesco or Growth Products. It is a lot easier and not that expensive. GP makes a 6-0-0 iron spray and a 15-0-0 spray. I have 2.5 gallons of the 6-0-0 which was about $25.

[ez2luvlawn]

Anyone in MN make the drop yet?

Had highs of 38-41 and lows in of 26° for the last week... and doesn't look to be warming up too much. What ya think?

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... mke6VOttiw <-- local weather

Nope. I am east of St. Paul, just off 94 in Woodbury.

Ground temps 4" down are still in the low 40s, though they did drop just into the 30s last week for parts of a couple of days. And I am still getting top growth - about half-an-inch between Sunday and Wednesday last week, though it looks like that is slowing down since that cut.

As long as I see top growth, I don't drop. I do use the 4"-inch soil temp map at Greencast as a rough guide as well. From my reading, top growth for cool season grasses ends at about 40 degrees F at the 4-inch depth, while shoot growth continues until that depth hits 33 degrees F.

The Greencast map shows the five-day outlook for us to still be in the lows 40s, so I am watching the grass and that map for now (and looking for other soil temp maps, if anyone has one to offer).

Just a reminder to other members in MN to be watching your grass closely and also watch your soil temps. It may be prime time to drop Urea and call it a season this week. I dropped Urea today as I have not had any top growth the past 2 weeks and my soil temps are in the mid 30's @ 4" depth.
3" - 4" of rain and snow is forecast tonight so I pulled the trigger today.

Put a fork in it, season is done for me.

[ronfitch]

Anyone in MN make the drop yet?

Had highs of 38-41 and lows in of 26° for the last week... and doesn't look to be warming up too much. What ya think?

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... mke6VOttiw <-- local weather

Nope. I am east of St. Paul, just off 94 in Woodbury.

Ground temps 4" down are still in the low 40s, though they did drop just into the 30s last week for parts of a couple of days. And I am still getting top growth - about half-an-inch between Sunday and Wednesday last week, though it looks like that is slowing down since that cut.

As long as I see top growth, I don't drop. I do use the 4"-inch soil temp map at Greencast as a rough guide as well. From my reading, top growth for cool season grasses ends at about 40 degrees F at the 4-inch depth, while shoot growth continues until that depth hits 33 degrees F.

The Greencast map shows the five-day outlook for us to still be in the lows 40s, so I am watching the grass and that map for now (and looking for other soil temp maps, if anyone has one to offer).

Just a reminder to other members in MN to be watching your grass closely and also watch your soil temps. It may be prime time to drop Urea and call it a season this week. I dropped Urea today as I have not had any top growth the past 2 weeks and my soil temps are in the mid 30's @ 4" depth.
3" - 4" of rain and snow is forecast tonight so I pulled the trigger today.

Put a fork in it, season is done for me.

I mowed yesterday and had had about 1/2" over an eight-day period, but that is significantly slower growth that at the last mowing. The Greencast site shows the five-day temp forecast for the Twin Cities to be finally be dropping into the mid-30s through Sunday. With guaranteed rain tonight ... turning into snow overnight which should clear up over the next few days ... looks like today is the day and then call it a season.

[Ben]

Just finished making the drop today!! Over 25k of lawn covered in Urea.

Now time for some Caol Ila 18, Andy!

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[BoatDrinksQ5]

well put mine down last night in the dark and snow....lol

with a solid coat of snow down this morning...makes it feel to late...lol hope it thaws for a bit.

This is by far my latest 'winterizer' in my lawn owning career. thx to the encouragement/knowledge of this Site.

[fletcher]

http://mncorn.ncgapremium.com/index.cfm?show=1&mapID=20

site with soil temp and other useful items

[ronfitch]

well put mine down last night in the dark and snow....lol

with a solid coat of snow down this morning...makes it feel to late...lol hope it thaws for a bit.

This is by far my latest 'winterizer' in my lawn owning career. thx to the encouragement/knowledge of this Site.

Me too, in the dark, before the snow (I am east of St. Paul, in Woodbury).

But the rain/snow was not the reason (that will be gone by the weekend). The big factors in my decision were that top growth has hit a wall but soil temps at the 4" level are forecast to stay below 40 degrees for the next five days - last year that meant, well, until spring.

And I am within two days of last year for Urea, which was my first time using that and was very happy with the results.

I go by the Greencast site for soil temps, which jibes with the link Fletcher cites and the USDA site that UMchez cites, both in this thread.

Another guide it this handout I got from someone on this forum (just cannot remember who) which pwking posted or links to in another urea thread in the Cool Season grasses. That document is at http://postimg.cc/image/ody59io4f/.

[kevreh]

I'm really having a hard time observing The Pause. I'm in northern Virginia and the avg high now is upper 50's. But lately its been in the 40's, but with a few days of 50's & 60's coming up. Since winterizing will likely be in early Dec is the any way to sneak in maybe a 1/2lb of N with iron, or is ~3 weeks not enough of a pause?

[BoatDr]

Skip it


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[andy10917]

I'm really having a hard time observing The Pause. I'm in northern Virginia and the avg high now is upper 50's. But lately its been in the 40's, but with a few days of 50's & 60's coming up. Since winterizing will likely be in early Dec is the any way to sneak in maybe a 1/2lb of N with iron, or is ~3 weeks not enough of a pause?

One man's opinion:

You're trying to finesse what cannot be finessed.

This is as simple as it gets, and there are only two inputs:

(1) look up the average first frost date for your town. Stop fall fertilization when that date occurs.
(2) Determine when the grass has stopped growing (mowing shows no change in height). Apply winterizing Urea then.

You can follow temperature curves, soil temperatures, Nostradamus or the migration of Canadian Geese, and you will drive yourself crazy with whipsaws. I have never seen the above two-input approach fail, and it's as easy as can be. Don't complicate it.

[ligrass]

I'm really having a hard time observing The Pause. I'm in northern Virginia and the avg high now is upper 50's. But lately its been in the 40's, but with a few days of 50's & 60's coming up. Since winterizing will likely be in early Dec is the any way to sneak in maybe a 1/2lb of N with iron, or is ~3 weeks not enough of a pause?

I paused a little too early around mid-October. I went off of one source that said Oct 31 was my first frost date. I checked again because my grass was still growing so much and found another source that said Nov 1-10th, (50% chance on Nov 7th). I ended up sneaking in my first ever urea dose (1 lb N) right around that date. It gave the lawns a nice boost (up until the cold snap this week), especially the back[weed]yard which needed it. The grass back there made a nice comeback after multiple spectracide weed applications. It looks like it's winning the battle now thanks to urea. Strangely, I didn't notice as much of a difference on the front overseeded yard.
You being in NOVA, we probably have similar first frost dates. Yours might be a little later. If you're going to do it, I wouldn't delay anymore...just drop it.