Fall is in the air, literally.
With the dropping temperatures, I have been asked a few times “When are the fairways going to turn brown?” I would like to discuss the factors involved that make this change happen and when to expect to see the change.
In the fall, bermudagrasses will start to lose their green color when the soil temperature drops below 55 degrees F. When soil temperatures drop to and below 55 degrees F, bermudagrass has difficulty producing chlorophyll more rapidly than it is degrading in the plant, particularly with high light intensity. As a result, the turfgrass will start to lose its dark green color. All bermudagrass will go dormant with air temperatures below 32 degree F. The ice crystals that form within the cells of the leaf tissue with freezing temperatures pierce the cell walls, ultimately killing the leaf tissue. It takes several days after this event for the bermudagrass to turn its characteristic dormant color; this happens gradually over the next several days as the sunlight degrades the chlorophyll in the leaf tissue.
#13 Fairway
