When Should A Warm Season Ornamental Grass Be Divided?
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By Dwayne Haskell
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What makes a grass, a warm season ornamental grass?
Warm season ornamental grasses like it hot. By hot I mean approximately 82 degrees F. If the temperature stays above 82 degrees, the grass will put on tremendous growth which will continue until the temperature drops. If the temperature gets too low the grasses growth will slow down.
Now that we know that warm season ornamental grass like it hot, what does that mean as far as dividing them? Well, if the grass does not actively grow unless the temperature is above 82 degrees, we need to take that into consideration when dividing and transplanting them. The root system of a warm season grass acts similar to the actual blades of grass. In cooler weather, they do not actively grow. Dividing or transplanting the grass in autumn is not recommended because of this. If the grass is divided or planted the roots are not actively growing.
As well as the roots not actively growing, the leaves are no longer manufacturing food for the plant through photosynthesis. This means the plants food reserves will be extremely low, increasing the chances that the grass will not survive the winter. In autumn, the grass has already flowered and set seed. The flowering process depletes the grasses food reserves anyway, and this also will affect the plants survivability.
If you live in a warmer climate, the grass will be able to be divided and planted much later in the season than colder climates, but the cooler temperatures and lack of food reserves still need to be taken into consideration.
So when is the best time to divide and plant ornamental grass?
The best time to divide and plant warm season ornamental grass is in the spring after active growth has resumed and right up to mid-summer. Once the plant has some new, strong growth, it can safely be divided and planted, but never divide any warm season grass during the flowering stage. It has spent much of it's energy producing the flowers and may not survive. When divided in the spring to mid-summer, the new divisions will quickly acclimate themselves to their new home and have an entire growing season to form tough roots into the surrounding soil.
Now that leads to the question about how to actually divide a large clump of ornamental grass. What is the secret? Well, you'll just have to read my post on dividing ornamental grass!
Planting ornamental grass in the fall.
So what happens if you absolutely have to divide and plant some warm season ornamental grass in the fall? Well, there are a few things you should do to help increase the survivability of the plant.
First, be sure to plant the grass before Sept 1 in colder climates. This date will allow the grass to begin acclimating itself to it's new home. It will still have a few weeks, or a month or more if the weather cooperates, to begin to form new roots. During this time, the new plant should be watered frequently. Remember, the grass has no roots in the surrounding soil. This means that they cannot extract any moisture other than what is present in the clump that was planted. Watering every few days will ensure the grass has plenty of moisture and allow those roots to begin spreading into the surrounding soil a bit. So how long should you water this newly planted clump of grass? Right up until the ground freezes.
Another thing that can be done to help ensure the plants survival is to cover the clump with bark mulch. This will do two things. First, it will help retain moisture within the clump so the roots can begin to spread. Second, it will provide a small amount of freeze protection to the clump. The best way to accomplish this is to cut the grass close to the ground and cover the entire clump of grass and surrounding area with a few inches of mulch. The mulch that is covering the clump will have to be removed in the spring to allow the grass to grow. You do not need to remove every small particle, but enough to allow the blades of grass to penetrate the mulch and grow.
Following these two steps will greatly increase your newly planted ornamental grasses chances of surviving the winter.
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Author Bio Box: Dwayne Haskell
Dwayne Haskell owns and operates Mistkits.com where complete misting kits, individual components, and advice can be found. After building his own misting system for his nursery, he realized he could design and build affordable misting systems for small nurseries or home gardeners who are interested in starting their own plants from cuttings.
He has written an E-book titled Build an Arbor in Just One Weekend, and another on gardening, landscaping and plant propagation tips. He also enjoys helping others grow their own landscape plants and owns and moderates the Mistkits blog, where you can find more articles, polls, and quizzes on landscape and gardening related topics.
You are free to reprint or use this article so long as my author resource box is left intact with all links active.
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