December 29, 2010

It seems that every winter I am asked by some one sooner later, “is this snow good for the grass, or does it hurt it?”

And my answer is always the same, “it all depends...”

Snow cover, like any other weather event, can help or hurt, and there are an infinite number of variables that can tip it either way. Here are the basics:

A good snow cover insulates the turf from wind and cold air temperatures, so that the turf does not desiccate, or dry out too much. Being covered with snow, the turf and the soil get a “traffic” break too, which prevents winter wear damage. As the snow melts, the water seeps through the soil, facilitating gas exchange for oxygen to jump start the roots when the soil warms. Many times, the turf is healthier coming out of winter when it has had snow cover for at least some of the winter.

On the other hand, winter diseases can occur beneath the snow because of the moist environment at the turf /snow interface. And if ice should form and cover the turf for long periods of time (usually 3 weeks or more), especially on poa greens, gas exchange will stop altogether and turf can then smother and perish due to a lack of oxygen. You may remember this happening to greens in the Philadelphia area about fifteen years ago.

We do our best to prevent bad things from happening, such as keeping fertility low and doing a snow mold spray late in the fall to suppress disease. And if the snow stays too long, we will clear it off best we can.

Right now, I am not worried about the snow that we had early this week...it’s been on the turf long enough to be good, but not there long enough to worry about.