Why is my grass not growing?

[GrassChop]

I've rested my paddocks for 3 weeks now and they look no different.
They all have nice green grass but it's just not growing at all. It's so short.

What do I do?

 

[Lois Lame]

Is it currently warm enough for it to grow faster?

 

[GrassChop]

Is it currently warm enough for it to grow faster?

Yes, everywhere else has gone mad except for my fields!

 

[Cortez]

It’s too cold, re growth is really slow. Should pick up this week.

 

[Britestar]

Too cold. Mine isn't growing at all. I haven't mowed the lawn for over a week and it still looks OK.

Normally at this time of year it has to be done at least twice a week

 

[Steerpike]

I'm in West Wales and my grass growth is slow, we haven't had that many warm days to allow it to get going properly yet.

 

[Horseysheepy]

Just need the weather to warm up and it should grow. Our sheep are rotationally grazed which works well this year normally, but the rested fields are not really flushing up. Hopefully the warm sunshine will perk it up nicely soon.

 

[Polos Mum]

If it's growing on the verges / your garden / everywhere else not your fields then they are
1) hungry - any chance of some well rotted manure to give it a gentle feed? or
2) compacted - I've found compacted ground really slow to get going - if you look at the areas they spend time on vs. less 'popular' parts of the field or
3) short to start with - weird but if we start spring with bald fields they take ages to get started, if we manage to leave them so they have 2 cms of growth - then they start really quickly - not sure why but maybe the leaves can collect the sun more easily with a little length and so get food into the plant more quickly than if there's just a tiny bit of leave left.

Where we have fatty sacrifice paddocks they are always slow to grow.

 

[Burnttoast]

If it's growing on the verges / your garden / everywhere else not your fields then they are
1) hungry - any chance of some well rotted manure to give it a gentle feed? or
2) compacted - I've found compacted ground really slow to get going - if you look at the areas they spend time on vs. less 'popular' parts of the field or
3) short to start with - weird but if we start spring with bald fields they take ages to get started, if we manage to leave them so they have 2 cms of growth - then they start really quickly - not sure why but maybe the leaves can collect the sun more easily with a little length and so get food into the plant more quickly than if there's just a tiny bit of leave left.

Where we have fatty sacrifice paddocks they are always slow to grow.

The roots die back if grass is overgrazed. They have to recover first.

 

[Polos Mum]

The roots die back if grass is overgrazed. They have to recover first.

Thank you - I was sure there was science to it somewhere.
I think leaving 2 cms of grass on at the end of the summer means we can move off the winter fields 4 weeks earlier than if we leave them bald

 

[Bellaboo18]

I ask this question every day! Tbf the wet winter meant ours got trashed more than I expected and it didn't get rested as soon as I'd like (to avoid everywhere else getting trashed) so it's slow to recover but I am wondering if it'll come back as well as I want it to for next winter. We'll definitely be over seeding next spring.

 

[BlackIrishBeauty]

Grass growth is slow this year in general! It's not been warm enough and neither have we had enough sunshine to promote it. Our local farmer has only just got his first cut in which is usually done by now!

Our winter field got trashed so we reseeded but it's still not got enough to rotate... My summer fields are starting to look bare too!

 

[Errin Paddywack]

This last week my lawn has stopped growing. I have been struggling to keep up with it but since the last cut it just hasn't grown. Some our paddocks are getting a bit tired looking as well.

 

[snowangel5]

Do you have rain coming your way soon for that grass that is not growing

 

[eggs]

My grass is growing but the ruddy rabbits are eating it as fast as it grows. I have never seen so many rabbits as this year - yesterday evening I counted 30 of the blighters happily munching on my grass. Even the dogs have got bored of chasing them.

 

[GrassChop]

Do you have rain coming your way soon for that grass that is not growing

We've had quite a lot of rain in the last couple of weeks along with some decent warmer days. It's not doing a thing, unfortunately!

 

[ester]

I had a ‘grasschop’ joke in here somewhere.

The grass in our paddock doesn’t grow much compared to everywhere else. Which is wild as at parents was constant battle with grass growth- proper old unfertilised lay).

It’s never really been looked after though been a v long time pony paddock - livery yard, there’s a lot of not grass it’s def compacted, never fertilised.

It really surprised me the first year I was sharing there as kept waiting for the grass to go wosh and it just doesn’t

 

[SEL]

Ummm whereabouts are you all because I have acres of knee high grass wafting in the breeze looking like the perfect hay meadow. Even the winter field which they trashed and came off at the end of March looks like it could feed a herd of hungry thoroughbreds.

The field they were in in April and came off in early May is taking its time but even that is bright green just a bit short. I have a 2 year old muck heap going to be lobbed on that.

 

[Bellaboo18]

Ummm whereabouts are you all because I have acres of knee high grass wafting in the breeze looking like the perfect hay meadow. Even the winter field which they trashed and came off at the end of March looks like it could feed a herd of hungry thoroughbreds.

The field they were in in April and came off in early May is taking its time but even that is bright green just a bit short. I have a 2 year old muck heap going to be lobbed on that.

I wish I'd taken mine off the winter field end of March start of April but it was just so wet

 

[PurBee]

The roots die back if grass is overgrazed. They have to recover first.

Its amazing how long growth takes when grass is grazed short. Growth of leaf and roots is severely impacted depending how much a field is grazed.
Many horse fields dont even have 2 inches of growth, so each grass plant has teeny sparse short roots and not much leaf.

 

[GrassChop]

Ummm whereabouts are you all because I have acres of knee high grass wafting in the breeze looking like the perfect hay meadow. Even the winter field which they trashed and came off at the end of March looks like it could feed a herd of hungry thoroughbreds.

The field they were in in April and came off in early May is taking its time but even that is bright green just a bit short. I have a 2 year old muck heap going to be lobbed on that.

South! Everywhere else has grass like you describe, just not my paddocks!
It suffered quite a lot over the wet 6 months of winter we had but it's been harrowed, it's green, it's not sparse but it's just so short and in nearly 3 weeks, it looks exactly the same while the grass in the fields around it are about 2 foot high!

 

[HopOnTrot]

I was coming on to say I always think the roots grow first on well grazed grass and it turns out I may be right!

I’m strip grazing 1/5th of my field and moving the fence daily at the moment to give the grass as much break as possible.

 

[Fieldlife]

I have 5 mini paddocks, and rotate them, the idea is none get grazed too short, so all recover fairly fast. It mostly works.

 

[snowangel5]

The grass outside my house windows had just been cut for a show that is coming up soon but i hope everyone gets some rain soon for the grass to grow

 

[Wishfilly]

South! Everywhere else has grass like you describe, just not my paddocks!
It suffered quite a lot over the wet 6 months of winter we had but it's been harrowed, it's green, it's not sparse but it's just so short and in nearly 3 weeks, it looks exactly the same while the grass in the fields around it are about 2 foot high!

If it's been grazed really short and trampled, it will take longer to come back, even if there is grass there. I would also consider whether the soil needs some help- harrowing may not be enough and it *may* be worth considering some artificial fertilizer if you are really seeing no growth. If other people's grass is growing and not yours, it's probably the soil, not climatic factors?

 

[Rokele55]

I spoke to a bee keeper today. No honey yield so far this year, too cold. I looked in an orchard this morning, very few fruits, presumably no pollinators. Might be a hard winter.

Having said that, the breeding of birds and mammals had been phenomenal. just today the amount of baby squirrel s, weasels, hares, fledgling I have seen seems far more than usual ( I won't talk about the rabbits). And every mare on the common has a foal. The hedgehog s are prolific as well. My lawn is pathetic, my border plants enormous.

 

[dominobrown]

If its over 6c grass should grow.
Do a soil test, it isn't expensive and will give you an idea of eats happening.
We put lime on hay fields this year and will have a much improved crop (if it ever stops raining so we can actually cut it!)

 

[GrassChop]

I've ended up just fertilising and typically, the one day of rain that was due this weekend is now not forecast!!

 

[bwook5]

I had a ‘grasschop’ joke in here somewhere.

The grass in our paddock doesn’t grow much compared to everywhere else. Which is wild as at parents was constant battle with grass growth- proper old unfertilised lay).

It’s never really been looked after though been a v long time pony paddock - livery yard, there’s a lot of not grass it’s def compacted, never fertilised.

It really surprised me the first year I was sharing there as kept waiting for the grass to go wosh and it just doesn’t

Same for my field, never fertilised, totally compacted clay. Fenced an area off one month ago and there is about 2cm (if that) of grass growth.

 

[TPO]

Its amazing how long growth takes when grass is grazed short. Growth of leaf and roots is severely impacted depending how much a field is grazed.
Many horse fields dont even have 2 inches of growth, so each grass plant has teeny sparse short roots and not much leaf.

View attachment 141561

This

Ideally graze/leave to rest until it's the height of a beer bottle and take them off it when it's grazed to the height of a beer bottle on its side.


Getting rested at that length means it comes back quicker. Grazing at the lounger length means it's completed it growth cycle and less "bad" sugars.

We had to aerate our summer field twice before they could get on it to graze this year. With it being so wet over winter a lot of grass had drowned and the ground compacted leaving sparse areas. Ran the machinery over it on two separate occasions and the ground "relaxed" and the grass spread.

ETA- we spread well rotted muck at thr end of last year when they came off it too. Important to feed the land but then horses need kept off it.


There's a Facebook page run by a Dr Lisa (can't recall the name. It's my mum that's on it) that is a good resource/start point.