Grass growth slow

[Stepper]

Here in North West Ark we have been getting rain everyday and lots of it for the most part. And i am not complaining the least little bit about it.

But the strange thing about it is the grass is not growing all that fast. I think it is because the temperatures are staying cooler than normal for this time of the year. Lower 70's during the days 50's of a night. Then it is also cloudy mostly during the day.

It is next to impossible to cure hay. Most of the hay that has been baled up in this area has been rained on several times and has laid out for 5 to 7 days or more before being baled.

And alot of that probably had alot of green grass or wet grass mixed with it while it was baled. Because of the weather conditions.

I put nitrate out on my hay meadows as soon as i baled & moved it off the feilds. But the grass is not growing as fast as i would think it should be growing.

 

[msscamp]

Grass grows better in sunshine than in cloudy, cool conditions. It is hotter than blazes here but, after flood irrigating the fields, you can almost watch the grass grow.

 

[dun]

What kind of grass?CSGs like fescue and OG don;t grow well if the night temmps aren;t in the mid 60s at the highest and once the daytime gets into the high 70s it starts to go dormant. WSG like crabgrass, bluestem, etc shoudl be growing like gangbusters.

 

[msscamp]

Thanks dun!

 

[cowsrus]

I had the same problem. LOts of rain and sunshine, then when I went to mow it for baling, I noticed how short it was and it didn,t make much hay. It was mostly fescue and I wanted to cut it so I could bale the bermuda thats in there later in July. I had sprayed it with 2,4D in late April & it was real clean, but I was sure dissapointed because it was so short. I finally quit mowing after about 20 Acres & decided to just let the rest grow awhile.

 

[mnmtranching]

To bad we can't trade some of your cool wet weather for some of our hot dry weather. 8) We don't have anything growing right now.

 

[dun]

I had the same problem. LOts of rain and sunshine, then when I went to mow it for baling, I noticed how short it was and it didn,t make much hay. It was mostly fescue and I wanted to cut it so I could bale the bermuda thats in there later in July. I had sprayed it with 2,4D in late April & it was real clean, but I was sure dissapointed because it was so short. I finally quit mowing after about 20 Acres & decided to just let the rest grow awhile.

If you had that easer freeze tha would have shorted your hay crop. The best thing to do is to cut that existing sstuff. That will encourage new growth on whatever grass is in the pasture. Even if you brush hog it that will get it started. It's a little late now but it won;t hurt and will probably help

 

[MikeC]

Here in North West Ark we have been getting rain everyday and lots of it for the most part. And i am not complaining the least little bit about it.

But the strange thing about it is the grass is not growing all that fast.

Too much rain can wash and/or leach nitrogen from the soil. Especially on hillsides.

After nitrating I hate to get those big "Gully Washers". Had much rather have a good slow soaker.

Bet if you did a soil test you'd be low in nitrogen.

 

[VZCR]

Here in North West Ark we have been getting rain everyday and lots of it for the most part. And i am not complaining the least little bit about it.

But the strange thing about it is the grass is not growing all that fast.

Too much rain can wash and/or leach nitrogen from the soil. Especially on hillsides.

After nitrating I hate to get those big "Gully Washers". Had much rather have a good slow soaker.

Bet if you did a soil test you'd be low in nitrogen.

I started applying a foliar liquid when we started getting so much rain the grainular washes and rinses out of the topsoil. My grass puts out more top growth and won't bolt as long as it gets a shot of 30-10-10 water soluble every 2-3 weeks. It looks a lot different than the fields that had grainular applied before all this rain. It has rained an inch a day until yestreday, when I poured out 2" at 6pm, then this morning the rain guage is running over and it holds 5.5". We've had over 6" overnight. :roll:

 

[hurleyjd]

Here in North West Ark we have been getting rain everyday and lots of it for the most part. And i am not complaining the least little bit about it.

But the strange thing about it is the grass is not growing all that fast.

Too much rain can wash and/or leach nitrogen from the soil. Especially on hillsides.

After nitrating I hate to get those big "Gully Washers". Had much rather have a good slow soaker.

Bet if you did a soil test you'd be low in nitrogen.

I started applying a foliar liquid when we started getting so much rain the grainular washes and rinses out of the topsoil. My grass puts out more top growth and won't bolt as long as it gets a shot of 30-10-10 water soluble every 2-3 weeks. It looks a lot different than the fields that had grainular applied before all this rain. It has rained an inch a day until yestreday, when I poured out 2" at 6pm, then this morning the rain guage is running over and it holds 5.5". We've had over 6" overnight. :roll:

I tnink that I may be in a neighboring county to you. You have mentioned the water soluble fertilizer several times. Where do you get it and about what is the cost. We have had a .75 inch overnight. Not quite as much as you. 8 inchs since the first of July.

 

[VZCR]

Here in North West Ark we have been getting rain everyday and lots of it for the most part. And i am not complaining the least little bit about it.

But the strange thing about it is the grass is not growing all that fast.

Too much rain can wash and/or leach nitrogen from the soil. Especially on hillsides.

After nitrating I hate to get those big "Gully Washers". Had much rather have a good slow soaker.

Bet if you did a soil test you'd be low in nitrogen.

I started applying a foliar liquid when we started getting so much rain the grainular washes and rinses out of the topsoil. My grass puts out more top growth and won't bolt as long as it gets a shot of 30-10-10 water soluble every 2-3 weeks. It looks a lot different than the fields that had grainular applied before all this rain. It has rained an inch a day until yestreday, when I poured out 2" at 6pm, then this morning the rain guage is running over and it holds 5.5". We've had over 6" overnight. :roll:

I tnink that I may be in a neighboring county to you. You have mentioned the water soluble fertilizer several times. Where do you get it and about what is the cost. We have had a .75 inch overnight. Not quite as much as you. 8 inchs since the first of July.

Yep, you're just northeast of us. I get this from Tyler, Red River Specialities. It is $24.50 for 25#. I mix it at 12.5# per acre into a 300 gal. tank (5 25# bags.) and go do 10 acres at a time. I was looking for some relief from the $410.00 per ton grainular when I found this. I don't think its a replacement, but rather a good supplement for times like this........ :shock:

 

[Stepper]

dun,

In my hay meadows i have mostly dallas grass, crab grass & bemuda grass. But i have been watching other hay feilds near mine and they dont seem to be doing any better ?

Like you mentioned though, the Spring freeze did slow the grass growth back quite a bit here. And alot of people said they are coming up short on their feilds. But that may be due to their management ? I dont know.

The feilds i have baled so far this year has done pretty well and some even surprised me. But with all of the rain we are getting i would have thought for sure we would have got 3 cuttings with out irrigation. But as slow as the grass is growing some of us myself included might do well to get 2 cuttings.