KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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pristinegreen75
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KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by pristinegreen75 » May 7th, 2021, 8:43 am

Seed heads are starting. I usually cut at 3" but would have to drop to 2.5 to clip them. By doing that would it force the plant to put its energy into tiller ing rather than the seed heads? Just thinkin

northeastlawn
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by northeastlawn » May 7th, 2021, 9:16 am

I never got a good answer on this. It seems like keeping a low cut just encourages the KBG to grow shorter shoots and seed heads, it seems like you want to just trim them off when its done seeding.

My plan this year is to let the lawn get to about 3-3 1.2" just before memorial day, live with the shoots, and then drop the cut to 2 1/2" around memorial day when we have our annual cook out.

Whenever I want my head to hurt understanding this I go to this link....

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/pla ... grass.html

The only thing is, is that it says....

"Rhizomes of Kentucky bluegrass develop most frequently in early summer as leaf growth begins to decline. During this season, high nitrogen fertilization and close mowing retard the development of rhizomes. Factors which favor photosynthesis such as long days, high temperatures and high light intensities promote rhizome development. Likewise, factors that promote leaf growth such as high nitrogen fertilization retard rhizome development in Kentucky bluegrass."

That seems to go against the common experience on here that we push a lot of organic fertilizer like milo to get it to spread.

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turf_toes
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by turf_toes » May 7th, 2021, 10:51 am

northeastlawn wrote:
May 7th, 2021, 9:16 am
I never got a good answer on this. It seems like keeping a low cut just encourages the KBG to grow shorter shoots and seed heads, it seems like you want to just trim them off when its done seeding.

My plan this year is to let the lawn get to about 3-3 1.2" just before memorial day, live with the shoots, and then drop the cut to 2 1/2" around memorial day when we have our annual cook out.

Whenever I want my head to hurt understanding this I go to this link....

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/pla ... grass.html

The only thing is, is that it says....

"Rhizomes of Kentucky bluegrass develop most frequently in early summer as leaf growth begins to decline. During this season, high nitrogen fertilization and close mowing retard the development of rhizomes. Factors which favor photosynthesis such as long days, high temperatures and high light intensities promote rhizome development. Likewise, factors that promote leaf growth such as high nitrogen fertilization retard rhizome development in Kentucky bluegrass."

That seems to go against the common experience on here that we push a lot of organic fertilizer like milo to get it to spread.
Last I checked, organic fertilizer isn’t considered a high nitrogen fertilizer. So not sure how applying low nitrogen fertilizer goes against the suggestion to not apply high nitrogen fertilizer.

Even at very high rates of application, applying soybean and alfalfa meal isn’t going to add up to high nitrogen application. Oceangro and the like, likewise, is a very low nitrogen fertilizer.

You’d probably have to apply at six or seven times the bag rate to get nitrogen levels up to what’s considered high nitrogen rates.

There may be some users who are doing that. But it certainly isn’t a common practice.

My advice to the OP is to maintain normal cutting height. The seed heads will go away in a few weeks.

reverseration
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by reverseration » May 7th, 2021, 11:28 am

I'm still pretty new to this game so this raises a related question for me: I had some pretty good snow mold damage this year so I've been mowing low under the assumption that this would help with tillering and thus filling in these spots....seems this may actually be hindering the process? Should I let it get taller. I haven't applied any fert yet (did the aggressive fall program)...but when I do it should be low N?

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turf_toes
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by turf_toes » May 7th, 2021, 12:34 pm

reverseration wrote:
May 7th, 2021, 11:28 am
I'm still pretty new to this game so this raises a related question for me: I had some pretty good snow mold damage this year so I've been mowing low under the assumption that this would help with tillering and thus filling in these spots....seems this may actually be hindering the process? Should I let it get taller. I haven't applied any fert yet (did the aggressive fall program)...but when I do it should be low N?
I’d suggest opening a new thread


pristinegreen75
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by pristinegreen75 » May 7th, 2021, 3:37 pm

I couldn't find a definitive answer either. I guess it's just a ? of aesthetics. I don't like the look of a tan yard for awhile. Looks like you mowed it with a blunt blade:-) Thanks for all the replies guys. Think I will leave it at 3.0 HOC.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by MorpheusPA » May 7th, 2021, 5:35 pm

I've never gotten a good answer or found one anywhere, or formulated one. I just keep the cut at 3.5" year in, year out, season in, season out.

It seems like a good compromise. Good color, good tillering, and I nick off the seed heads well enough.

If you're feeding right, early summer (late June) isn't a time when you're feeding the lawn anyway. You'd apply a feeding in late spring (Memorial Day), and that would be the end of it. Rhizome production would continue without excessive nitrogen getting in the way, and even a heavy organic feeding done "late" (it's not really late) on Memorial Day would be past its first flush of release by the first day of summer. So no problems there.

Even if they mean more "summer weather" than summer, well...around here, late May isn't summer. Evenings are still in the fifties and I'm still pulling my desert roses in for the night as often as not.

Jackson
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Re: KBG seed heads-mow or no?

Post by Jackson » May 8th, 2021, 1:39 pm

reverseration wrote:
May 7th, 2021, 11:28 am
I'm still pretty new to this game so this raises a related question for me: I had some pretty good snow mold damage this year so I've been mowing low under the assumption that this would help with tillering and thus filling in these spots....seems this may actually be hindering the process? Should I let it get taller. I haven't applied any fert yet (did the aggressive fall program)...but when I do it should be low N?
I am mowing right around 3.5". Had some snow mold this spring, but its all grown out and is long gone.

Fertilize and mow....

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