How Long Will Southwest Oklahoma Have To Mow Grass?
If you remember, we talked about mowing grass and the rains last in August. Southwest Oklahoma was still getting spring-type rains on the regular, and it was forcing us all to mow in some excessively hot weather. Me being the lawn-lover guy, you know it had to be bad if even I say it sucked.
While I've always enjoyed getting my lawn weed-free and deep green in the usually mild temperatures of spring, by the time Independence Day rolls around, I'm over it. That's about the time our regular dry-season sets in, the bermuda goes dormant and we can start mowing every other or third week. There have been some years on record I didn't have to mow between July 4th and Halloween... then again, there have also been years I've enjoyed that last mow on Christmas Eve. The question is, where is this year going to go?
Every late-mowing autumn I can remember, I recall the temperatures being well into the mid-to-upper 90's well into November and a regular show of clouds and steady rain. While we've enjoyed a normal and dry September, the last few days of soaking rain has me fearing what is to come.
As always, the bermudagrass will continue to lose color and enter its normal seasonal dormancy. It's a sun-loving grass, and without enough sun and heat, it will brown out until next spring.... but if the rains and seasonally warm days persist too long, this will leave ideal conditions for fall weeds to pop up across your yard.
That's a huge bummer.
Not only would that mean you would have to mow when you could be eating wings and watching the game, but most herbicides that we use in this part of the country also aren't very effective when the weather is cool. The same products that kill weeds overnight in July might take two or three weeks this time of year, and that's only if you resist the urge to mow long enough for it to do its thing.
Since it seems nobody can accurately predict the future of what the weather might do, I guess we'll just have to sit and wait to find out how long we'll have to mow this year. Who knows, maybe a freak October ice storm and deep freeze will hit early like it did in 2020.