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points where new shoots emerge ( nodes ) on unmown rhizomes and stolons . As fraise mowing cutting depths increase , more nodes are removed . Thus , longer recovery times can be anticipated with increased cutting depths . Shallow cutting depths ( 0.25 inches ) can recover in as few as three weeks after fraise mowing . However , 1-inch depths may require ≥ 6 weeks to recover .
Bermudagrass must be fertilized with quick- or slowrelease nitrogen to speed up its recovery from fraise mowing . In North Carolina , hybrid bermudagrass recovered the
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Fraise mowing depths ( 0.25 , 0.5 , or 1.0 inch ) followed by core aerification . Photos provided by Ray McCauley , Ph . D . |
fraise mowing , the 0.25- and 0.5-inch depths reduced thatch by ≥14 % and 46 %, respectively . These benefits were still present when the study concluded two months later . Field hardness increased as fraise mowing depths removed more cushioning thatch in both soils . The 1.0- inch fraise mowing depth increased field hardness by ≤ 90 % ( 49 gravities ) in the sandy loam and ≤ 21 % ( ≤14 gravities ) in the sand . The 0.25 and 0.5-inch depths increased field hardness by ≤ 24 % and ≤ 58 % ( respectively ) in the native soil , but had little effect in |
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fastest from 0.25-inch cutting depth when it received nitrogen ( ammonium sulfate ; 21-0-0 ) at ≥ 0.5 lb . per 1,000 square feet for three consecutive weeks . For the more patient , weekly applications of ammonium sulfate at 0.25 lb . N per 1,000 square feet or a single application of polymer-coated urea at 2.0 lbs . N 1,000 square feet ( applied one week after fraise mowing ) recovered in four weeks after fraise mowing . Normal fertility programs should be resumed after recovery . Otherwise , excessive bermudagrass shoot growth and scalping may occur .
Sand topdressing is often applied during field establishment to speed up bermudagrass grow-in and to level surfaces . Sand topdressing at ≤ 0.25-inch depth ( ≤ 0.8 cubic yards per 1,000 square feet ) applied within two weeks after fraise mowing did not have an effect on bermudagrass recovery . However , topdressing did help to further level the surface — especially any depressions from overlapping fraise mower passes . Topdressing depths ≥ 0.5 inches ( 1.5 cubic yards per 1,000 square feet ) applied one or two weeks after fraise mowing delayed bermudagrass recovery and are not recommended .
Nothing happens in a vacuum , and fraise mowing is no exception — it affects soil physical properties ( how fields behave ) as it removes thatch . Fraise mowing hybrid bermudagrass at three depths ( 0.25 , 0.5 , or 1.0 inch ) affected thatch height , field hardness , traction and drainage in two soils — a sand and a native sandy loam . Immediately after
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the sand . Traction ( shear strength ) in the non-cohesive sand decreased by 9 % and 22 % in the 0.5 and 1.0-inch depths , respectively , because these depths removed more stabilizing roots , rhizomes and stolons . The opposite occurred in the more cohesive native soil , and traction increased by 6 % in the 1.0-inch fraise mowing depth . Surprisingly , drainage ( saturated hydraulic conductivity ) in the sand decreased with the 0.5 and 1.0 inch cutting depths by 34 % and 48 %, respectively . Drainage slowed even though these cutting depths removed ≥46 % of thatch . Despite all of these changes , all soil physical properties were within defined acceptable ranges — field hardness (< 100 gravities ), traction ( 20 to 120 N · m ), and drainage ( ≥16 inches per hour ) — after the bermudagrass fully recovered from fraise mowing ( Baker and Richards , 1993 ; Chivers and Aldous , 2003 ; Serensits and McNitt , 2014 ).
Because fields will be closed until they recover from fraise mowing , what better time is there to beat them up even more ? For a follow-up study , the effects on bermudagrass recovery and soil physical properties were observed following fraise mowing and core aerification . Fraise mowing was followed immediately by core aerification ( 3.0 inch depth ; 3.0 × 3.0 inch spacing ; cores reincorporated ) in two soils . Aerification did not delay recovery at any fraise mowing depth and recovery occurred in three weeks in the 0.25 and 0.5-inch cutting depths and 6 weeks in the 1.0-inch cutting depth . Thatch content decreased as fraise mowing
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