Dying pasture in a drought

   / Dying pasture in a drought #1  

plowhog

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Dec 8, 2015
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Location
North. NV, North. CA
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Massey 1710 / 1758, Ventrac 4500Y / TD9
Our irrigation ditch water this year has ended due to drought. But with the amount of hot summer days left, all the grasses are going to stress out, and die. Or at least most of them. I can do partial irrigation using hoses and sprinklers.

The grasses are about 8-10" tall. Should I mow to have the clippings provide some cover, or leave in place as is?
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #2  
You might cause more damage from partial irrigating, rather than letting it brown off. Depending on grass type it may just go dormant if you leave it alone.
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #3  
Tough situation.

Hopefully your grass has just gone dormant v. dying. Dormant grass needs very little water - 1/4-1/2 inches every month.

You should typically stay off dormant grass. So, I would not mow.

Give it the 1/4-1/2 inch of water and wait for rain!

Good luck.

MoKelly
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #4  
If you are concerned about lawn grass you may have problem. Turf grass roots seldom go deeper than 3"

If you have pasture grass it will root 6" deep in tough soil, 9" deep in Florida sandy loam. In Florida, even when pasture grass turns brown and dries out it always greens up during November.

Do not mow. Let nature adjust.
 
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   / Dying pasture in a drought #5  
Plowhog: Advise so far is good. Just don't let the grass go to seed - though I think there is little chance of that. If the grass goes to seed, the texture of the blades will change, allowing any moisture retained to dissipate rapidly.
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #6  
Leave it as is. The grass will naturally fall over and provide much need ground cover for future snow/rains to help the water percolate into the soil and to reduce evaporation losses. Depending on what you have for grass, this will help seeds and or perennial grasses grow more robustly next year.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #7  
All my two acres of "lawn" here is field grass. It naturally dies this time of year. I can keep it green a tad longer if I water - earlier in the summer.

Even with watering it will die. I end up with tan, dead, wet grass. It all comes back to life with the fall rains.

Forget the watering - don't mow it - let nature take its course. It will come back.
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #8  
Now with the cold - 38F - mornings I'm getting dew on the grass. The pasture is beginning to green up.
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought #9  
That's great news! We are still another two months to any signs of green, if it is a normal year. Given the normally variable climate, and add in the changing climate, who knows? Always happy to see drinking water fall from the sky.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Dying pasture in a drought
  • Thread Starter
#10  
We are still another two months to any signs of green
Well, it's coming. Felt *definitely* like Fall this morning. And I noticed "stripes" of green appearing in the main pasture. Those stripes are where nearby trees provide late afternoon shade as the sun starts to drop. Now for the rest of it to catch up.

Trying to make the most of the drought. The pond is down enough where I can get 100% around the nuisance cattails at the shoreline. So they got a good does of "treatment" this morning.
 
 
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