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Interesting read on soil temperatures and grass growth

15 years ago

A report published by the North Carolina State University Turf Council ("Soil Temperature Reports Aid Managers" March 31, 2005) shows the impact of soil temperature on cool and warm season turf. Knowing where you are at in this

range should help you understand how bad your turf is hurting right now.

Excerpted from the report:

The following is a partial list of soil temperatures (F) at the 4-inch depth that should be of the association with certain biological events.

Cool Season Grasses

90F Shoot growth ceases.

77F Root growth ceases.

70F Maximum temperature for root growth of any consequence.

70F Time to plant grasses in late summer.

60-75F Optimum temperature for shoot growth.

50-65F Optimum temperature for root growth.

40F Shoot growth ceases.

33F Root growth ceases.

20F Low temperature kill possible if temperature subsequently drops

rapidly below 20F

Warm Season Grasses

120F Shoot growth ceases.

110F Root growth ceases.

80-90F Optimum shoot growth.

75-85F Optimum root growth.

74F Optimum time to overseed bermudagrass with ryegrass in the fall. Time to plant grasses in the spring.

64F Expected spring root decline is triggered and roots turn brown and die within 1 or 2 days.

50F Root growth begins to slow below this temperature.

50F Chilling injury resulting in discoloration is possible.

50F Initiation of dormancy occurs resulting in discoloration.

25F Low temperature kill possible.

Syringing to keep greens cool.

Below are two short articles on syringing to keep turf cool. The first is from Karl Dannenberger (Ohio State University) showing the impact of syringing, the second from David Kopec (University of Arizona) discussing syringing vs.handwatering.

http://www.turfgrasstrends.com/turfgrasstrends/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=99488

http://ag.arizona.edu/turf/ccps699.htm

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Comments (7)

auteck
15 years ago
Excellent, thanks for sharing.
skizot
15 years ago
Very useful information, and I figured I'd bump it back up on the forum as some of us are trying to figure out when to apply that last application of fertilizer for the year. This soil temperature map should help, too (I got it off of another thread in this forum):

Soil Temperature Maps

I'm assuming once the soil temperature is consistently in the low 40s, then that would be a good time for the final fertilizer application for cool season grasses, right?
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Thank you tcstoehr for doing this experiment. There are things that we all assume are true because they seam to make sense and we have all heard them so many times. I always say the only way to really know is if somebody does it. Then there is proof. At this point you have experience and now no one can tell you that raised beds are hotter than the surrounding soil. A person with experience is not at a disadvantage to someone who read about it in a book or a website. I grow in raised beds and I notice that the edges of the beds dry out faster than the interiors. Rapid evaporation does not mean that the soil is hotter. It may be exposed to more heat but evaporation releases cold and faster evaporation releases the same amount of cold per volume in a shorter space of time. To illustrate; Burlap water bags were and still are often used by logging crews in remote areas. They hang a large tightly nit water bag on the limb of a tree. They put room temperature water in but the water is ice cold when it comes out. This because the water soaks through the burlap so that the entire outside surface of the bag is wet. As it evaporates some of the cold thats produced is stored within the water in the bag. Even when its 110 degrees in the shade the water is still ice cold. The higher the rate of evaporation means more water is evaporated in a shorter amount of time which means more cold being stored in the bag. This is evaporative cooling at its best. Thus the bed could be could be hit with more heat and the temps not be noticeably affected do to a higher rate of evaporative cooling. Of course I'm sure the mulch and plants growing over the soil also have a positive affect. Thank you again.
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lll
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Exactly what MeyerMike said. RIght now for me this is exactly the case. We just had a weird heat wave come through. Temps WERE in the high 60's/low 70's, with nighttime temps dipping as low as the high 40's. Pretty typical for fall here where I live in the middle of "citrus country". Yesterday it was 94 for a high, and don't think it was below 65 last night - very balmy. It has been warmer over the last few days, and I am seeing small flushes here and there with my citrus. Which also means root growth as John has mentioned (you cannot have leaf flush without first having root growth). But, temps will drop back down this weekend, which is normal. So, over the winter we see grow and stop, grow and stop. Pretty normal for citrus, so your citrus would experience the same thing as citrus growing in-ground. Perfectly normal through the winter months. Patty S.
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An Interesting Read....(Long, but worth it)
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Comments (8)
Only a few centuries ago - world population was 1 billion. Only a couple of centuries ago, I think - world population was 2 billion. Now ... world population is 6 billion, or 6.5 billion ... some say 7 billion (or almost that many). We'll soon need that land to grow food. Extended suburbs are hugely costly, in terms of the costs per residence of running power lines ... water lines ... sewer lines. And of maintaining them (which, in many jurisdictions, is low priority, not being very glamorous, as soon-to-be-running-for-election politicians prefer to have their pictures taken with some new project to laying out the funds to upgrade the sewers). How have we lived so long on the earth and learned so little? ole joyful
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bpgreen
15 years ago
Skizot--I let the grass tell me when it's time. What I do is wait fot the top growth to stop, but the grass is still green. When it hits that stage, I figure it's time for the last feeding.
jimtnc
15 years ago
Good stuff. It looks like around here the soil temps are around 60-65, which should be optimum for grass growth, unless you are stuck in a lot of shade like I am. Oh well, time to cut down a few more trees and plant a few smaller ones.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Jim, you could plant that type of fescue that grows in the shade... chewing fescue? creeping fescue?
bpgreen
15 years ago
The fescues that grow in shade are collectively called fine fescues. If I remember correctly, these include creeping red fescue, hard fescue, chewings fescue and sheep fescue. I don't think sheep fescue is used as a lawn grass very often. It may be because it uses so little water and it would suffer with the rainfall in most of the US. I'm using creeping red and sheep fescue in my back yard, hoping to cut my water usage to near zero.
jimtnc
15 years ago
Ya know, I must be getting old...or else I have already arrived. I don't know why I haven't even thought about putting out some of that shade fescue and try it where it's shady. Thanks guys, I might get some tomorrow. I still have a little time left here so I might be able to get some to come up.

It kills me to walk over my lawn and see the damb soil, like I've never had grass here before. I mean it really pisses me off after the years of babying this friggin' lawn, and poof...gone. I have spent untold hundreds of dollars trying to get this place looking nice, and I have to start all over again. Geeessshhh!!

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