Editing just to say thanks to everyone who has contributed. The responses make perfect sense!
In: Biology
Turf generally has a four things it does in a year.
1) Actively growing. Times are good, weather is warm, the turf is trying to grow and spread as much as possible.
2) Actively storing energy, The seasons are changing and the turf is preparing for winter by loading up on carbohydrate reserves in the perennial parts of the grass (stems, stolons, rhizomes.)
3) Dormancy. The grass is too cold to grow and done storing energy, it goes to sleep until the weather turns again. Turf turns brown.
4) Preparing to grow. The weather is warming up, but not warm enough to grow. The turf will turn from brown to green using all the stored energy it saved up in the fall. It does a combo of use the stored energy to grow and starts storing more for when it is time to grow.
All that to say, that in dormancy, the turf can handle being covered for months, it is hibernating and doesn’t need any sunlight.
Leaves (any kind of shade really) can be really harmful because the turf needs the sunlight in all the other times of year. Whether it is trying to grow, or storing energy, shade is a major hinderance. Grass will spend all of its energy trying to get above the shade thus exhausting its energy reserves. That is why turf in the shade grows much longer and less dense that turf in full sun. Any trampoline owners out there? It is trying to get more leaf surface area to do more photosynthesis.
Oftentimes, a late snowfall can be really devastating for turf as well. The turf has used up its energy reserves to come out of dormancy and then gets covered again for an extended period of time can wipe it out.
Of course, not all turf is the same and there are major differences in species and varieties, but for the most part, this is true of all turf grasses.
Latest Answers