BuckinNC – posted 17 March 2006 07:39
Just took my 419 down to about 3/8. Usually burn it to get rid of last year’s brown, but we did not have enough cold this year to send it completely dormant; at least it would just not bure.
Anyhow, have a surprising number of long runners right on the ground. Have never seen this before and it makes for a crappy turf.
Anyone have an idea of why and, importantly, what I need to do to get my lawn properly rooted?
Thanks
tommy – posted 17 March 2006 13:31
You can bury the runners by topdressing, or you can mow even lower and remove even more runner. 419 has an extensive root and rhizome system, and doesn’t really need last years runner growth. There is also the option of just leaving the turf alone as it is, and letting the new spring growth fill in. 419 will always return to a dense turf, no matter what you do to it. (within reason)
BuckinNC – posted 20 March 2006 07:21
Thanks Tommy.
Have my mower as low as it goes, but I’ll try another pass and see if I can clip the runners I have.
I’m at least as concerned about why I have them in the first place. For some reason, when I went back down to 7/16ths in the fall, from 11/16ths during the summer, I think it shot a whole lot of runners out where perviously the growth was up, not out. All I can figure is that maybe the soil is somewhat compacted so I’m planning on aireating in a couple of weeks to see if I can losse it up some.
But, this may happen every year and I just have never noticed it as I have been able to burn it right down to the soil every winter before now.
Thanks again, I thought this may be an indication of a maintenace problem and wanted to correct it.
BuckInNC