Mowing Greens In February??? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Troyer Adam

   
   2/6/2012 7:02 AM

   We are in Ohio and we have had a very mild winter with little snow cover and our greens are shaggy right now. We have had some pressure from golfers to cut greens. Anyone have experience with this?

   
   
   
   
2. Joe Wachter

   

   5 posts
   
   2/6/2012 9:02 AM

   Adam,
   
   Earliest I ever mowed in February was this past Wednesday. I had mowed after the first of January as well so they were not as shaggy as they could have been. We are at .135 with solid rollers with 10-50% poa so our turf is height is 15-20% higher than main season.
   
   We are expecting some winter cold later this week so I would be cautious about mowing off a bunch of grass. I've been getting enough frost that the greens are not greening up and we are not cutting short enough to force much growth. Looks like below normal winter temperatures by the end of this week. I would think if it warms back up after this next week and the extended looks good, you would probably be ok to mow.
   
   Would definitely see what others have been doing in your area. Not sure if you've been rolling any. This could be an option instead of mowing if your greens are not too soft. Its been a strange year this year. I would think the fact that they probably have been able to get out more this winter should be sufficient enough.
   
   Nothing wrong with using the excuse not wanting to do any harm that could set back turf in spring golf season. Also, check in OSU guidance regarding this issue or USGA if you want to be on the more cautious side.

   
   
   
   
3. Justin VanLanduit

   

   0 posts
   
   2/6/2012 9:02 AM

   Adam,
   
   I'm located just north of Chicago and we mowed on Feb 1. Little different reason for doing so as we just reseeded last fall, with the combination of having the greens covered, high fertility, and mild temps we seen a great amount of top growth that I wanted to clean up. I spoke with both our local USGA Agronomist and Tee 2 Green agronomist before pulling the plug on cutting. We were very cautious on height not to take to much off, finished last fall with them at .170 and tried going out last Wednesday at .195 but after a few passes thought that was too aggressive. Ended up at .215 and were getting about 1.5-2 buckets a green. Unreal for February. Now my wonder is snow mold protection. We did a combo of Tourney/DisarmC, my feeling is with our removing a lot of tissue we should still have ample protection till say early March when I plan on topdressing and spraying, but then again I wonder about about the mild temps and the growth whether some of the efficacy of the fungicides have worn out.
   
   Anyway, I think as long as you don't remove too much leaf tissue you'll be alright and as Joe stated to keep the extended forecast in mind.
   
   Good Luck,
   Justin

   
   
   
   
4. James Gray

   

   1 posts
   
   2/6/2012 2:02 PM

   southern illinois here, i typically mow them once a month dec.-feb. at .140 just to keep them from getting shaggy and to keep the golfers off my back. Especially this year, with the warm weather i dont think you can get in trouble.

   
   
   
   
5. Cummings John C

   
   2/6/2012 3:02 PM

   Mowed greens twice last week.

   
   
   
   
6. Chris Cook

   

   0 posts
   
   2/7/2012 9:02 AM

   John Cummings, CGCS said: Mowed greens twice last week.

   
   
   
   We've been mowing every 7-14 days all winter. We've been in the sixties so much that we've had a lot more growth than usual.

   
   
   
   
7. Keith Fellenstein

   

   0 posts
   
   2/7/2012 10:02 AM

   John Cummings, CGCS said: Mowed greens twice last week.

   
   ditto and this week...hope this isn't a trend.

   
   
   
   
8. Joshua Hicks

   

   0 posts
   
   2/7/2012 12:02 PM

   It has been a mild year...ya'll are talking about mowing vs not mowing while downhere in Louisiana we are putting the groomers back on and getting ready to start verticutting. Really only had one cold week all winter. One of these years I may actually experience a true season to season year but more and more we seem to deal with just extremes. Biggest struggle for us the last couple years has been the extreme drought for months at a time followed be a month of flooding then right back to drought. Here is to hoping that the mild winter doesn't lead to three months of 110 degree heat indexes like it did last year.

   
   
   
   
9. Justin VanLanduit

   

   0 posts
   
   2/12/2012 3:02 PM

   For some of you mowing that have put down Snow Mold applications, have you reapplied?
   
   Justin