1st cut of the year !

delthedriver

With the exceptionally mild winter grass continued to grow.

My first cut was on 5/1/14

Anyone else cutting grass already?

wildlifeboy

Well done, youve just compacted your wet moist soil with the lawnmower wheels and possibly made the grass extremly weak at the same time. theres a reason people dont cut grass in january

delthedriver

wildlifeboy wrote: »

Well done, youve just compacted your wet moist soil with the lawnmower wheels and possibly made the grass extremly weak at the same time. theres a reason people dont cut grass in january

No soil was rock hard, grass was dry..........

I was in Killarney Golf Club last week, they were cutting grass too

monkeynuz

wildlifeboy wrote: »

Well done, youve just compacted your wet moist soil with the lawnmower wheels and possibly made the grass extremly weak at the same time. theres a reason people dont cut grass in january

I cut mine on 23rd December but it needs another cut soon.

delthedriver

monkeynuz wrote: »

I cut mine on 23rd December but it needs another cut soon.

Yes, I also cut the grass on 1/2 December. The growth has been amazing, Perhaps the cold weather may slow it down again.

monkeynuz

delthedriver wrote: »

Yes, I also cut the grass on 1/2 December. The growth has been amazing, Perhaps the cold weather may slow it down again.

Yes del, anything under about 5 degrees and it slows down a lot, but here in kerry this is the first week it has really got close to that.

delthedriver

monkeynuz wrote: »

Yes del, anything under about 5 degrees and it slows down a lot, but here in kerry this is the first week it has really got close to that.

Agree, Tues, Wed and Thurs in Kerry c 3/4 degrees

Monday was 12 degrees in Kerry.

NIMAN

Cutting the grass in 1st week of Jan.:eek:

I hopefully won't cut mine til March.

Couldn't imagine cutting it now, must be soaking, with the amount of snwo melt and torrential rain over the last week.

Norfolk Enchants_

NIMAN wrote: »

Cutting the grass in 1st week of Jan.:eek:

I hopefully won't cut mine til March.

Couldn't imagine cutting it now, must be soaking, with the amount of snwo melt and torrential rain over the last week.

No not at all, the ground is grand, it's not uncommon too for the grass to grow all year round in Kerry, although it's sporadic growth and you really shouldn't be doing anything more trimming the top of the lawn, i.e. don't cut more than 1/4 of the height of the lawn.
It's more unusual to not have some grass growth during the winter months in Kerry and parts of Cork as it's usually very mild.
Someone mentioned earlier that the temperature needs to 5 degrees for growth, I'm fairly certain that it needs be 6.5 degrees (used to be 7), and that's soil tempature not air tempature.

monkeynuz

Norfolk Enchants_ wrote: »

No not at all, the ground is grand, it's not uncommon too for the grass to grow all year round in Kerry, although it's sporadic growth and you really shouldn't be doing anything more trimming the top of the lawn, i.e. don't cut more than 1/4 of the height of the lawn.
It's more unusual to not have some grass growth during the winter months in Kerry and parts of Cork as it's usually very mild.
Someone mentioned earlier that the temperature needs to 5 degrees for growth, I'm fairly certain that it needs be 6.5 degrees (used to be 7), and that's soil tempature not air tempature.

I said anything under 5 and it doesn't grow, regular temp of 5+ and it won't stop completely.

Gloomtastic!

Watching Alan Titmarsh and his top 10 gardens during the week. The winner of the Scottish lawn of year was on it. He cuts his grass every day of the year!!! :eek:

NIMAN

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Watching Alan Titmarsh and his top 10 gardens during the week. The winner of the Scottish lawn of year was on it. He cuts his grass every day of the year!!! :eek:

Rest of us live in the real world though.;)

monkeynuz

NIMAN wrote: »

Rest of us live in the real world though.;)

Nothing about real world or not, he wants to do it and that's fine for him, I prefer to do mine twice a week March to October.

Most people argue that they are too busy to do it properly, too lazy most of them, just a bit of effort is all that's needed.

magicbastarder

i do mine probably once every 10 to 14 days during the summer. i've never had that yen for the perfect lawn.

Norfolk Enchants_

monkeynuz wrote: »

I said anything under 5 and it doesn't grow, regular temp of 5+ and it won't stop completely.

It doesn't really matter who say it if it's incorrect.
It's 6.5 degrees and it's soil temperature not air temperature that matters.

monkeynuz

Norfolk Enchants_ wrote: »

It doesn't really matter who say it if it's incorrect.
It's 6.5 degrees and it's soil temperature not air temperature that matters.

I didn't say air temp, grass does grow above 5 degrees, I have been in horticulture long enough to know.

You need to recheck your sources

Explain otherwise why I know of grass being cut in English winters on 24th December.

monkeynuz

Actually, don't bother checking your sources, carry on thinking. 6.5 is the right temp, i haven't got time trying to re-educate someone who is adamant they are right even when they are wrong.

magicbastarder

you're getting very argumentative over a 1.5 degree difference.
anyway, half the internet says 5 degrees, and the other half 6.

monkeynuz

magicbastarder wrote: »

you're getting very argumentative over a 1.5 degree difference.
anyway, half the internet says 5 degrees, and the other half 6.

Not me magic, I'm done with the thread, was just defending myself when someone tells me I'm blatantly wrong.

Norfolk Enchants_

monkeynuz wrote: »

I didn't say air temp, grass does grow above 5 degrees, I have been in horticulture long enough to know.

You need to recheck your sources

Explain otherwise why I know of grass being cut in English winters on 24th December.

First off you didn't specify what your temperatue related to and actually you still haven't, secondly when I studied horticulture we were taught 7 degrees soil tempature was required for grass growth, since then modern equipement has become more precise and it is now widely accepted that the required tempature is 6.5 degrees, except of course in monkeynuzland where it grows at 5 degrees.
You could make a small fortune if you could bottle that.

Norfolk Enchants_

monkeynuz wrote: »

Actually, don't bother checking your sources, carry on thinking. 6.5 is the right temp, i haven't got time trying to re-educate someone who is adamant they are right even when they are wrong.

Ok ok keep your shirt on, I think the soil tempature has increased by about 1.5 degrees due to the heat coming from under fellas collars in this thread, add that to your 5 degrees and your grass will start to grow:pac::pac:.

delthedriver

When I cut the grass back in DecemberThe air temp was 5/6 degrees.

I would never cut grass below that air temperature for fear of frost damage. To be fair in Kerry we get very mild winters, come February I will be back to cutting every 7/10 days. During the Summer months May , June , , August I cut the grass 2 per week.

November , December and January , I cut once per month 1/4 cut. I think apart from keeping the grass areas looking tidy , if grass is still growing it helps keep it strong. I stress I am not a horticulturalist, only a fussy little man!

wildlifeboy

anyone cut this week? still gonna wait until april

I was going to go this weekend. its very very windy here in North Mayo. I might leave it yet. Maybe Sunday. There has been very little growth and some of my grass areas are a bit wet. my main lawns that are drained are dry though. No panic yet, it wont be up around your knees any time soon

magicbastarder

i cut the front lawn a couple of weeks back during a mild period. it was getting very shaggy.

NIMAN

Still not cut yet, not too wild.
Plus going to get the ride-on serviced before I do the 1st cut, so planning that for start of next week.

tmq

I was thinking of giving it a cut this wend... in Dublin, so should be mild enough from now on (?).

Thats assuming the mower starts ok!

monkeynuz

wildlifeboy wrote: »

anyone cut this week? still gonna wait until april

Cut mine yesterday, did a customer Tuesday, have more to do next week.

PeteFalk78

Just doing first cut in a few minutes. Windy so the grass is dry.

Grass is long though - its gonna be a battle.

PeteFalk78

PeteFalk78 wrote: »

Just doing first cut in a few minutes. Windy so the grass is dry.

Grass is long though - its gonna be a battle.

When did you last cut it?

Boskowski

Not big into the whole lawn thing. It needs cutting I suppose or else it looks manky after a while. So I cut it when its easy to cut. Yesterday was easy. Windy all day and not a drop of rain. For the first cut of that long winter grass its essential the grass is dry or else it becomes a nightmare. Of course everyone here knows that. The guys doing the open spaces in our estate doing it all through the winter no matter hail or rain. And honestly it doesn't look any worse than what most people would have in their back gardens.

squadro

Fired up my new mower yesterday. First cut of the year. Oh the joy of of self propelled mowing. Grass had got very long, wouldn't have liked to tried cut it with my old machine (rip). At a guess 25+ years old sterling service.

Bigcheeze

do you do anything different with the clippings for first cut ?

squadro

Just fecked em in to the compost heap. Didn't use the mulching thingy yet. I'm no expert on lawn care btw.

PeteFalk78

Deleted User wrote: »

When did you last cut it?

Late Oct

Actually didn't go too bad. I mulched it at the highest level and went around again at a level lower. Looking much tidier now.

Zardoz

Cut mine yesterday
Didnt take much off it but it looks nice and green after the winter .
I gave it a spray of Iron sulphate in January and that seems to have kept the moss at bay .

magicbastarder

i'm going to give mobacter a try this year as a way of knocking the edge off the moss.

beertons

Got my first cut done Friday. Delighted to see the lines from the mower on the grass again. Now, how soon to aerate?

SCOOP 64

My last cut was 20th dec, thats the latest ive done a last cut, heavy rain last week will try to leave til April for first cut.

delthedriver

beertons wrote: »

Got my first cut done Friday. Delighted to see the lines from the mower on the grass again. Now, how soon to aerate?

Judging by my golf club, they were aerating the fairways 2 weeks ago! I guess now is a good time??

NIMAN

1st cut today after a few days of dry weather.

Using mulcher, cut at highest level, then went back around on a notch down.

Garden looks so much better with the lines and same height all round, it looked like a field before it.

looksee

Just got mine done, and a good bit of tidying up, yesterday. Looks like a sheep was at it, but I will give it a couple of days for the grass to recover from all the trampling on it then cut it again a bit lower.

NIMAN

Think I will give mine a feed too in the coming weeks.

squadro

I have a bag of chicken ****. Any idea when I should throw this on the grass?

looksee

looksee wrote: »

Just got mine done, and a good bit of tidying up, yesterday. Looks like a sheep was at it, but I will give it a couple of days for the grass to recover from all the trampling on it then cut it again a bit lower.

Person/people who actually did the cutting and tidying were inclined to mutter a bit about my sheep description. I am unrepentant, but the work was very much appreciated!

alchemist33

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'm going to give mobacter a try this year as a way of knocking the edge off the moss.

Same here for the mobacter, but I believe it needs to be a good bit warmer first.

Will do first cut this weekend, and a second soon after to keep it lower than last year.

squadro

This mobacter sorcery yis are mentioning. Is it the dogs bollix for sortin out the dreaded moss?.

magicbastarder

couldn't tell you. haven't applied it yet.

PeteFalk78

I've just put down sulphate of iron but will be keeping an eye on this thread regarding mobacter. Keep us posted Magicbastarder

delthedriver

Any suggestions for elimination of daisies in lawn...........looks like they will be this season's scourge.

delthedriver

delthedriver wrote: »

Any suggestions for elimination of daisies in lawn...........looks like they will be this season's scourge.

if your putting a 5in1 or 4in1 weed and feed on it that will take care of them. I find mortox50 deals with a lot of these weeds too