Essential maintenance allows us to mow our greens up to 3 times per week. We are however only performing this task twice per week due to the dry weather conditions (lack of moisture is the limiting factor for growth) and low soil temperatures (still only 7-8 degrees). We have also raised the height of cut to 7mm which is almost double our regular summer mowing height offering more protection to the grass plant. In the natural growing environment grass is not intended to be shaved down to 4mm as this places enormous stress upon the plants ability to photosynthesise. By raising the height of cut to 7mm we effectively allow the grass to manufacture twice the amount of glucose (energy) as there is double the amount of surface area to collect light from the sun.
During this lockdown period the emphasis is placed upon plant health. As the regulations are relaxed the objective swings back to playability, the height of cut will then be lowered by increments of 0.5mm down to our regular summer mowing height of 3.5-4mm. By reducing stress at this time of closure, actions such as raising the height of cut is like money in the bank – we will see the benefits of this when we re-open.
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