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.