Keeping your grass green all through out the winter is indeed a big challenge. Rye grass is a grass which aids to keep your lawn beautiful throughout the year. Rye grass is considered as the cool grass, which helps to prevent the attack of aggressive winter weeds.
The native place or the place of origin of rye grass is Europe. Ryegrass is planted throughout the world for lawn, turf, and pasture. These grasses are either annual or perennial. Each type of Rye grass is planted as a pure strain or used in mixtures depending on the specific lawn requirement. Rye grasses are used for golf courses mainly for their fast growing ability as a cool season grass.
Sometimes, these grasses are also referred as winter rye grass. European countries have ideal climate for the growth of ryegrasses. Ryegrasses adapt themselves to a wide range of soil conditions. They thrive well on moist, well drained, and fertile soils. Ryegrasses are drought tolerant but require irrigation during dry spells for their survival. They have shade tolerance and it them survive in the southern climates where shade conditions reduce the effects of extreme heat. Perennial ryegrass survives in hot, dry summers of the south on moderately shaded sites. Since rye grass develops very fast after seeding, it is used to prevent soil erosion.
Maintenance of Rye grass on Golf course
Ryegrass is very popular for over seeding athletics fields, lawns and golf course during the winter months. The new improved turf varieties of perennial ryegrasses have more desirable characters than the older varieties. They have greater cold tolerance, diseases resistance, wear and tear tolerance and are more persistent than the older varieties of similar grasses. The new varieties of grass have better turf characteristics, finer texture and greater density, darker color, and better mowing qualities. Rye grass requires frequent mowing to maintain healthy growth. This lawn grass can last for a couple of years with good management and weather conditions.
Watering to Ryegrass
Ryegrass requires medium levels of water to grow luxuriantly. Irrigate the grass only till the soil becomes moist and not soaked. Deep irrigation is occasionally desirable for the roots to grow deep as this will make the grass very strong and make it drought tolerant.
Fertilizer
Fertilizer application to the rye grass is very essential. It helps to keep the golf greens in good health and improves the beauty of the rye grass. Nitrogenous fertilizers are applied every 4-6 weeks as top-dressing. Potash and phosphorous can be added once or twice a year depending on the requirement of the soil.
Reseed
Reseed the ryegrass when necessary you can use different varieties while doing so. Reseeding the golf grass increases the disease and pest resistance of the grass.
Mowing
Mowing is essential to keep the desired height of the rye grass. Rye grass has rapid growth and requires frequent mowing. It is desirable to remove only 1/3rd of grass per mowing. Mowing can be done at an interval of 2-3 days. Keep the height of rye grass up to 1 inch for better quality of golf turf.
Maintaining rye grass is necessary to have good playability. This grass responds well to the cultural practices like mowing, aeration, irrigations, fertigation, etc. If you follow the maintenance schedule of rye grass it will result in excellent golf course conditions.
