Mild winter could impact the grounds keeping industry

Grounds keepers and people in the turf maintenance industry are looking forward to the next season. When the grass starts growing and conditions are ripe for blooming that means the professional contractors are ready to start business. With a fairly mild winter there is a good deal of speculation as to whether the grass will start growing early this year.

It is not an unseen phenomenon; many years have seen flowers blooming as early as February. The natural life cycle of plants is directly tied in with the external environment. The date that they bloom on directly correlates to the ground temperature, rainfall and sunlight levels.

The machines that deal with the early growth season are aerators, scarifiers, top dressers and ride on lawn mowers. All of them serve a purpose in preparing the ground for the main summer season. If the soil is not adequately prepared then growth will be weak, patchy and not as full as it could be.

The first grass cut of the season is usually a rough and ready job just to get the grass growing in a good shape again. Contractors will typically use a rotary lawn mower to undergo the first grass cut in spring. The reasons for this are that the grass will be tough and fibrous after winter, and it will generally be quite unkempt. Therefore using a cylinder mower straight away could cause damage to the blades and machinery.

Looking forward we expect to see the industry seriously picking up around March. Long term forecasts predict a slow rise in temperatures as things get steadily more mild. These are perfect growing conditions and they should see a healthy and problem free spring. In previous years unforeseen snaps of frost have stunted growth rapidly, hopefully that won’t be the case this year.