Mowing dilemma

Morning fellow green people,

I overseeded (and top dressed) my lawn a week and a half ago - was a LOT of work and I realise probably a little late in the season to have done it, but it was the first weekend I had that coincided with no-rain. The problem is I have patches of what I think is native grass (we live in a field) that grows at a massive rate --- already 6-9 inches tall after 1.5 weeks without being cut. These patches have started to go to seed now.

So - when do I mow? I know I should leave it 3-4 weeks post overseeding and then do a high cut not taking more than 1/3 length - issue is these patches the highest cut I can do will take about a foot by the time 3-4 weeks is up!

I had thought of getting a small hand mower and just trimming these native patches -- as they are very thick and healthy damn it!

Cheers,

 

Am I right in thinking you wanted to eradicate the problem grass and grow a finer type grass?
The problem you are seeing is that by dressing the nutrients have feed the grass that was there already, hence the increase in growth.
The problem you have is will the problem grass out grow the new grass type over time.
If you don't want that grass you either need to remove it manually or by use of a chemical and redo those areas.
If however you want to simply keep that grass in check it will need a cut.
If it's not a huge area you can just strim the long grass and pick up the rubbish, you could mow at a high height or you can use lawn shears depending on the size of the area and problem.

 

Hi Liz - the fast growing "native" grass is about the only grass that is really lush and healthy --- all the lawns on the road suffer from having patches of it, so I don't really mind it as such - its just a bit of a pain to stay on top of.

I think a bit of Lawn Shear action is going to happen - that way I can be sure I'm not sucking up seeds / not quite rooted new grass.... and I can do it in the rain .....

 

I face a similar problem with a lawn that was ridiculously infested with moss. It was so bad that that the whole lawn was yellow and brown after mowing at a 1 inch height.

It was was treated then seriously scarified to remove all of the moss and seed was raked in and a top dressing put on the top. After a month, the lawn is now green again but the dressing seems to have boosted weed grass, possibly Yorkshire Fog due to the thickness of the leaves. It would have been present before but not noticable at the time of scarifying as some weed grasses tend to start making more of a visuable impact later in spring.

After all the hard work, it seems like the effort has been wasted by this weed grass and weedkilling it and starting all over again in specific areas with seeding etc feels like an issue, as the owner is physically capable but rather adverse to watering the grass and if it doesn't rain, it's gonna be a problem.

@Tim Shields I feel your woes too, not that it's any consolation.

 

Took the opportunity of a brief break in the rain to do the first mow after the top-dressing/overseeding (at the highest setting my mower would go of course) --- very happy with the results. Its never looks so thick and lush

 

Looking good Tim