Sunday, March 23, 2014

Ice, ice, baby

Spring has arrived, although it doesn't look much like it.
I tried to do some assessments this week with out much luck due to the white blankets that still cover most lawns.


With most properties now seeing 75 plus days of ice on their turf there is cause for concern. Snow as an insullator is one thing, ice is quite another and can cause serious damage to grass on a cellular level if it remains too long.


Some golf courses had aerators out on the ice in a panic to try and break things up.

Is your sky falling yet?


Look, we just went through the worst winter in twenty years and sure, there's ice below the snow and frozen soil beneath that, but we've been through extreme weather before.


The Guelph Turfgrass Institute didn't seemed overly concerned when I read their blog. They noted there was no detectable smell when they chiselled through the ice, but it was still too early to determine the effect of winter hardiness on fescue and perennial rye grasses.



Truth is, until we finally see what the damage is, no one should join the line of lemmings running periously toward the precipice. Grass is a resiliant beast and bare areas can be reseeded, so chill out....no pun intended.