Winterization: Urea + rain

[Hammbone]

I'm locked, cocked, and loaded for my 2013 fall winterization. Urea on hand, just watching temps and rain. Soil temps have been 47°-45° for about 4 days now. Average air temps are (hand have been for a few days) below 50° and are projected to stay there through November. I'm just waiting on rain. It's supposed to start raining tomorrow afternoon, so I'm thinking of playing hooky for a couple hours in the morning to get the urea down. Here's the catch, over the course of 1.5 days we could get up to 1.25" rain. Is that too much immediately following a urea drop?

[andy10917]

The Big Question: is the grass still growing?

[BoatDrinksQ5]

yeah that seems a little early for that far south of me and the other MN folk that havn't dropped their's yet. I guess most other pre-ATY years I would have dropped a few weeks ago.

[pwking]

I'm somewhere in between and I still have some growth. Not very much but if the weather stays about the same I'm thinking we are at least a week off from top growth ending - probably more.

[Ben]

I guess most other pre-ATY years I would have dropped a few weeks ago.

My next door neighbor talked up getting his Winterizer down a month ago, right when I was finishing up my weekly fall Milo applications. It would appear that his trigger of when to apply Winterizer is when the leaves started to fall.

As for the OPs question, 1.25" of rain over a day and a half sounds great for "watering in" the winterizer. I'd welcome that any day now so I can drop mine in the AM before work.

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[Hammbone]

I mowed today. It's been 1.5wks since I've had to. We got 3.4" 10/30 & 10/31. (Until then, we only had 0.6" in 3 months!) I had a little growth from that rain. Perhaps I'll wait until this weekend. Looks like we're slated for a little more rain next Tue/Wed (11/12 - 11/13). If rain is in the forecast within a few days or so, I'm not "too" concerned about going a little early as loss to volatilization is minimal at low temps, high OM, mid 6 ph...etc. Plus I can got a "little" heavy (say 1.2lb N/K) to account for it...and the lawn can handle a little extra if there's no loss.

[Hammbone]

The Big Question: is the grass still growing?

Of course thats the million dollar question. Answer is, I don't know. Its been quite a while since I mowed and so growth has definitely slowed to a creep. My goal is to attempt catching it the instant growth stops (or as close as possible after). It seems like to really lay a finger on that instant, I will have had to wait until way after the fact to realize I was there. Perhaps I'm over thinking it?
This is only my 3rd year winterizing with urea. Each time I find myself pulling my hair out trying to decipher if it's go time. The past two years I did it around 11/17. But this year things are cooling off sooner...

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[pwking]

I think you have more time than what it seems you are thinking. I've been watching the soil temps and they are just very slowly creeping lower. That is also why growth slowly stops. I mowed over the weekend and still had some growth but very little. If you haven't seen the link below, it should give you a better understanding on when top growth and root growth cease.

http://postimg.cc/image/ody59io4f/

[Tony alony]

I think you have more time than what it seems you are thinking. I've been watching the soil temps and they are just very slowly creeping lower. That is also why growth slowly stops. I mowed over the weekend and still had some growth but very little. If you haven't seen the link below, it should give you a better understanding on when top growth and root growth cease.

http://postimg.cc/image/ody59io4f/

Thanks, pwking for posting the chart for everyone to see. I've been looking for something like this as a guide to help understand the importance of soil temperatures.

[Ben]

Dropped Urea today. Have at 'er Mother Nature...



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[Hammbone]

I chickened out. I'm waiting until this weekend.

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[ronfitch]

I chickened out. I'm waiting until this weekend.

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Probably for the best. I dropped tonight as the growth seriously slowed and the five-day soil temp forecast at 4-inch depth is forecast to be below 40 here (eastern Twin Cities). I used the Greencast maps - they seem to jibe with the other sources I checked against.

Checking my notes, within two days of last year.

[paulr]

I'm dropping today. Central/Western Mass.
1) Good Rain coming tomorrow
2) They are saying next week a big cold snap in the 20's is coming.
3) My top growth is down to 1/2" in a week, that is wicked SLOW for a lawn I've had to mow every 2 days.
4) last year I dropped within around 7 days of this time.
5) Personally, I actually saw better Spring results dropping real early 2 years ago vs last year when I dropped when all top growth ceased.

[Hammbone]

I'm dropping today. Central/Western Mass.
1) Good Rain coming tomorrow
2) They are saying next week a big cold snap in the 20's is coming.
3) My top growth is down to 1/2" in a week, that is wicked SLOW for a lawn I've had to mow every 2 days.
4) last year I dropped within around 7 days of this time.
5) Personally, I actually saw better Spring results dropping real early 2 years ago vs last year when I dropped when all top growth ceased.

Last year I went on 11/18. Hadn't mowed for 15 days (and never again after urea app).
Soil temps were between 41°-45°F for 7 days prior. Got rain following day.
Spring was colder than normal for longer. On April 9th took this crappy pic with my cell phone. My lawn is the small strip in the foreground (ignore the neighbor's junk). It was all uphill from there. I was happy with the results.

[Hammbone]

I mowed again yesterday. Perhaps last? We'll see. Soil temp was 47 Wednesday, then took a sharp dive to 42 yesterday. Day time temps are still in low to mid 50's, but last two nights got down to high 20's. Highs projected to be in 50's thru Sunday, then cold and snow starting Monday. Then cold for rest of month. I have to travel for work next week, so I'm looking at Sunday for my application.

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