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Height of grass before winter comes

16 years ago

I'm getting the lawn aerated today and sprinklers blown out.

Should I keep the lawn at 3 inches or shorten it before a freeze? I was planning on overseeding, throwing some compost down and then putting some winterizer fertilizer soon.

(in Denver area)

Thanks.

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Comments (5)

bpgreen
16 years ago
Some people mow their lawns lower for the winter because they can get mold with higher grass in the winter. In the intermountain west, it's dry enough that you shouldn't have to worry about that, so you can keep it tall if you want.

I assume your seeding is a dormant seeding, since there really isn't time for the grass to germinate before winter hits. You might want to wait just a little longer to make sure it's cold enough that none of the seed will start to germinate. Since it's starting to cool off, you can probably dormant seed in just a couple of weeks, but I think it's still a bit early.
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penaddict
Original Author
16 years ago
Not to sound ignorant but I didn't know there was a different type of seeding, dormant seeding. Where to get this as I have KBG?
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bpgreen
16 years ago
The best time to seed is usually in the fall. Sometimes that can't be done for a variety of reasons. If you seed in the spring, you're likely to lose a lot of grass during the heat of the summer.

Dormant seeding is waiting until it is too cold for the grass to germinate and spreading the seed. The freeze/thaw cycles and snow melt bring the seed into contact with the soil. When it warms up enough and the ground is moist, the seed sprouts.

You will probably lose some seed to birds, some to germination followed by a cold snap, and maybe some to runoff if the snow melts quickly or there are heavy rains. But you may have better results than with a spring seeding because the seed in a dormant seeding will sprout sooner than a spring seeding.
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penaddict
Original Author
16 years ago
Should I do this before or after I put down some winterizer fertilizer?
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bpgreen
16 years ago
The fertilizer will be long gone by the time dormant seeded grass germinates so I don't think it makes much difference.
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