Bentgrass 2002 "the Ultimate Pita"

[PetalsandPines]

Ok, Not sure if you southerners have to deal with this, but the notion of raising your mower heights when it is hot and dry is worthless when you have bentgrass mixed in with a stand of ryegrass or mixed turfgrasses. How many times do you deal with this question? I feel like beating my head on the ground because I am asked the same stupid question every year by the same people! . If I cut it shorter, they won't water , it will burn up and I will lose money. If I raise the heights, It looks like **** at this time of the year and they complain about the wirey clumps of grass. So then what do they do? Rake Rake Rake, Now I am embarrased to cut a lawn that looks so ugly. Up here in Buffalo their are a lot of old timer lawns that originally were heavy on bentgrass, back in the day people used reel mowers so clumping and matting wasn't an issue. Now when you use rotary mowers set up at 3", the bentgrass forms a nice mat beneath your cut. Is their any tricks to dealing with this? Seems like almost every lawn I cut has a stand of bentgrass in it that is forming a nice brown patch in our "extreme" weather this year. Your professional insights are appreciated.

[GroundKprs]

If the bent is showing green before you mow, and the brown appears after mowing it, it is just because the stems have gotten so long that you are cutting off all the leaf. I handle that here by cutting the brown patches 1/2" shorter once, to get rid of the stems down to 2-1/2". Will look really bad right then, but by next week it has leafed out at the lower height, and you don't get the brown when you mow. Have only ever had to do this once a season, usually around mid to late July.

Be sure it is bent and not Poa triv, though. The Poa triv here is really getting hammered by the heat this year. If you cut that shorter, it's liable to just die completely this year.