# What HOC for Bermuda in Fall prepping for winter?



## FedDawg555 (Mar 19, 2020)

So first full season with a reel mower and was wondering. As we enter fall moving towards winter dormancy what HOC are y'all letting the lawn get up too? I'm maintaining at .75 and have heard to let her come up to 1.25 or 1.5 for winter dormancy. Is that what most do or maintain .75 and let it go dormant from fro that height?


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## cnet24 (Jul 14, 2017)

I think the highest I've done is .75.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Probably a little different based on area and severity of winters. I have exceptionally cold tolerant zoysia and live in DFW where winters are typically very mild, so I typically don't change the height, unless I just enter break mode early and let it go.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

I'm also wondering as it's my 1st season reel mowing too.

Following


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

I kept my Bermuda last season below 1 inch for the majority of the season...then the last month before 1st Frost I raised the HOC up to 1.25 inches.

I didn't have any problems with winter kill.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I kept mine at .5" last year and it didn't even go dormant. We did have a mild winter but even after a few frosts, I noticed that the lower HOC areas were doing better than the higher HOC. There were probably other factors involved but I am going to try it again this year at a low HOC. If I lived in an area where we had really hard freezes, I would probably bring it up but our cold snaps are not that bad relatively speaking.


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## FedDawg555 (Mar 19, 2020)

I bet keeping it at .75-1" thru the winter here in Georgia should be fine. I can also see it would make that spring scalp so much easier too.


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

I suspect the main consideration is simply cosmetic. If your Bermuda has a dense canopy at 0.5" HOC, then it will look great while in Winter dormancy.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

As low as you can keep it is what I recommend. There is NO need to raise your HOC before Winter as you are just creating more work for yourself come Spring when it's time to scalp, it will be just that much more material you will have to remove. You raising your HOC up a little bit before winter is not going to amount to much in the grand scheme of things come winter time. Your Bermuda will be just fine.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

Mightyquinn said:


> As low as you can keep it is what I recommend. There is NO need to raise your HOC before Winter as you are just creating more work for yourself come Spring when it's time to scalp, it will be just that much more material you will have to remove. You raising your HOC up a little bit before winter is not going to amount to much in the grand scheme of things come winter time. Your Bermuda will be just fine.


Quick thought: I am keeping my HOC currently slightly higher than normal (2" vs 1.5") due to the fact I don't want to scalp again (to 1.25") and I want to maintain the lush green color. I assume once fall/winter hits, my last cut of the season could be at the 1.5" level bc who cares if it's green then when it's going to be dormant and brown shortly. I would then scalp to 1.25" in the spring.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

I think you would be fine if you did that especially that where you live it doesn't get too cold for too long. By scalping, you will be exposing more of the canopy and crown to the elements but I still think you will be fine. Bermuda is a lot more resilient then people think it is and once it goes dormant it's almost impossible to kill it off.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Mightyquinn said:


> As low as you can keep it is what I recommend. There is NO need to raise your HOC before Winter as you are just creating more work for yourself come Spring when it's time to scalp, it will be just that much more material you will have to remove. You raising your HOC up a little bit before winter is not going to amount to much in the grand scheme of things come winter time. Your Bermuda will be just fine.


@Mightyquinn This is great to know!

So once it goes dormant "around middle of November for NC"...we could if we wanted to go ahead and get the spring scalp out of the way...correct?


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

ENC_Lawn said:


> Mightyquinn said:
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> 
> > As low as you can keep it is what I recommend. There is NO need to raise your HOC before Winter as you are just creating more work for yourself come Spring when it's time to scalp, it will be just that much more material you will have to remove. You raising your HOC up a little bit before winter is not going to amount to much in the grand scheme of things come winter time. Your Bermuda will be just fine.
> ...


I don't know about taking it all the way down before Winter but doing a "clean up cut" after it's gone 100% dormant isn't going to hurt anything. Now, if you want to start the scalping early like in February, you should be fine as I have done that myself without any issues. By that time in the year, you may still get a few cold fronts come through here but they won't last long so you don't have to worry about the soil freezing and possibly causing some damage.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

My maintenance HOC for the rest of the season is going to be 3/4" but I might raise to 1" before winter as I stop PGR and also to see what it looks like at 1". Then I can scalp & bag on 2 stages in March if it's too much to scalp all the way down from 1".


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Mightyquinn said:


> ENC_Lawn said:
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> > Mightyquinn said:
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 :thumbup:


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## andymac7 (Oct 30, 2018)

Once again, it's like TLF is reading my mind! Lol. I'm obviously in the upper transition zone (coolest part of 7a I suspect). I personally think @Redtwin 's theory is a sound one. If you think about it, bermuda should be better insulated the thicker it is right? And we all know what happens when bermuda gets tall- It thins out.

This is also my first year reel mowing, and it's never been thicker, so even with my increased risk of low temps, I think I'm gonna just keep on mowing at my .75".


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## Cdub5_ (Jun 12, 2019)

With no football this season (that's what I think will happen) I'm just gonna keep mowing all throughout winter. Every Saturday and Sunday I'll go cut the front then the back, give me something to do :lol:


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

Mightyquinn said:


> ENC_Lawn said:
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> > Mightyquinn said:
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So if I stay at my 2" cut and then once it's fully dormant in December or so I can do a haircut to 1.5" with no problems (bag clippings I assume also)?


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Cdub5_ said:


> With no football this season (that's what I think will happen) I'm just gonna keep mowing all throughout winter. Every Saturday and Sunday I'll go cut the front then the back, give me something to do :lol:


I like this idea. Even dormant Bermuda will stripe.


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## cutigers08 (Aug 16, 2019)

I keep mine at .625". Way less crunch grass to track into the house and its far easier to scalp down to the dirt in March. No issues with that approach last year. As a mater of fact, I was fully green about a month before the other Bermuda and Zoysia lawns in the neighborhood.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Jeremy3292 said:


> Mightyquinn said:
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> > ENC_Lawn said:
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Yes, you should be fine :thumbup:


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## harmonjw (May 29, 2020)

In Spartanburg, SC and been maintaining at 2". I was planning to do a HOC down to 1.25" prior to the end of the season b/c it is just looking extremely grainy and i am not happy with the appearance at all. Plan to put a last round of nitrogen on it to give it some juice to green back up. Anyone see any issues with this?


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Don't put nitrogen on it too late in the season. It could set you up for spring dead spot.


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## BobbyHill (Jun 30, 2020)

Redtwin said:


> Don't put nitrogen on it too late in the season. It could set you up for spring dead spot.


What do y'all consider too in the late season? 4 weeks before average last frost?


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I've backed off of my total N this season but normally I would do my last app at the end of September or beginning of October. We usually don't get a frost until well into December.


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