<p>The law describes several modes of lawn care like</p>
<pre><code>type        max height, cm     cut height, cm   cuts per season      watering per season
parterre    5                  2 ~ 4            15 ~ 18              30
usual       10                 3 ~ 5            10 ~ 14              16
meadow      20                 3 ~ 5             2 ~ 5                0
</code></pre>
<p>Climate in south-eastern Ukraine is +30C all the summer, almost no rains.</p>
<p>Housing maintenance organizations usually have no any means to water the lawns, no money, no equipment for watering at all.</p>
<p>Last 50 years most lawns were kept in meadow mode, that means that they were cut about twice a year without any watering.
The grass was very healthy, high and very diverse.</p>
<p>About 3 years ago all urban areas were switched to the &quot;usual&quot; mode ( tick and ragweed control )
In fact that means that the lawns are cut to zero several times per season without any watering.</p>
<p>As a result many lawns are yellow and dead for a long time and I see the gradual turf degradation.</p>
<p>You can see it at two photos made in the almost the same date ( end of April, start of March ) with three years interval:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/EG0rt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EG0rt.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/asO6F.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/asO6F.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Also we have the mass death of the birches in the areas where the grass is regularly cut under them.</p>
<p>The officials say that they just follow the instructions to fight tick and ragweed and the grass will regrow later when we will have more rain.</p>
<p>I want to ask you to give your opinion about my understanding of the situation.</p>
<p>I described my understanding in several theses below.
Please write me where I am right or wrong.</p>
<ol>
<li>The surface of the grass is the catalyst of the dew.</li>
<li>The higher the grass the more dew it will produce</li>
<li>The dew evaporates during the day decreasing the temperature and increasing the humidity</li>
<li>The dew is daily precipitation that is important for all plants including the trees</li>
<li>The death of the birches could be caused by the absence of the high grass and the absence of the dew.</li>
<li>The turf degradation will continue if the grass is cut to zero several times per season without any watering.</li>
<li>The turf degradation will cause the desertification in several years and eventually the death of most trees because level of evaporation will be higher and the amount of the dew will be zero.</li>
</ol>
<p>( Also I will be very obliged if somebody could help me to contact the expert in the area of overgrazing and desertification.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-22T04:06:50.153Z
The idea is like this: keeping the grass short means drought because dewfall will be close to zero.
Aleksey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-23T07:30:52.400Z
I think you are right. I don't have scientific papers to back this, but any sustainable gardening magazine will tell you to mow less often and/or higher to prevent the grass from dying of drought. It has to do with a simple concept: evapotranspiration. With longer grass you prevent the soil from losing its water through evapotranspiration. Look for "sustainable lawn" for more info, and try to convince your local authority! Many towns have already turned to better practices.
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-23T10:44:21.047Z
Herb size is related to dewfall amount: "After crops were planted the number of dewfall-nights and the amount of dewfall per event rose quickly and eventually surpassed that on the lysimeters with grass. After harvest both parameters dropped well below the values on the grass lysimeters again." ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169409004806 )
Aleksey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-23T10:46:20.093Z
"Dewfall was shown to increase with pasture height and biomass" ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022169494902208 )
Aleksey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-23T10:50:24.187Z
Grass dew comes from the air: "According to the isotopic labeling, dew water consisted of a downward flux of water vapor from above the canopy (98%) and upward fluxes originated from soil evaporation and transpiration of the leaves in the lower canopy (2%)" ( https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00442-011-2091-0 )
Aleksey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-23T14:36:23.363Z
I have a 50 years old soviet book about lawns, there is a map of the climatic zones and South-East of Ukraine is officially arid area there. The noth-west is much more wet.
Aleksey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-24T19:23:41.557Z
Black area is a shadow. There is a whole town of similar dying lawns. Many similar towns. And I cannot find the expert that could confirm officially that it is catastrophe.
Aleksey
<ecology><desertification>
Can the frequent mowing without watering cause the total desertification in arid climate?
Aleksey
# Can the frequent mowing without watering cause the total desertification in arid climate?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-21)

The law describes several modes of lawn care like

```
type        max height, cm     cut height, cm   cuts per season      watering per season
parterre    5                  2 ~ 4            15 ~ 18              30
usual       10                 3 ~ 5            10 ~ 14              16
meadow      20                 3 ~ 5             2 ~ 5                0

```

Climate in south-eastern Ukraine is +30C all the summer, almost no rains.

Housing maintenance organizations usually have no any means to water the lawns, no money, no equipment for watering at all.

Last 50 years most lawns were kept in meadow mode, that means that they were cut about twice a year without any watering.
The grass was very healthy, high and very diverse.

About 3 years ago all urban areas were switched to the "usual" mode ( tick and ragweed control )
In fact that means that the lawns are cut to zero several times per season without any watering.

As a result many lawns are yellow and dead for a long time and I see the gradual turf degradation.

You can see it at two photos made in the almost the same date ( end of April, start of March ) with three years interval:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/EG0rt.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/EG0rt.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/asO6F.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/asO6F.jpg)

Also we have the mass death of the birches in the areas where the grass is regularly cut under them.

The officials say that they just follow the instructions to fight tick and ragweed and the grass will regrow later when we will have more rain.

I want to ask you to give your opinion about my understanding of the situation.

I described my understanding in several theses below.
Please write me where I am right or wrong.

1. The surface of the grass is the catalyst of the dew.
2. The higher the grass the more dew it will produce
3. The dew evaporates during the day decreasing the temperature and increasing the humidity
4. The dew is daily precipitation that is important for all plants including the trees
5. The death of the birches could be caused by the absence of the high grass and the absence of the dew.
6. The turf degradation will continue if the grass is cut to zero several times per season without any watering.
7. The turf degradation will cause the desertification in several years and eventually the death of most trees because level of evaporation will be higher and the amount of the dew will be zero.

( Also I will be very obliged if somebody could help me to contact the expert in the area of overgrazing and desertification.)

**Tags:** ecology, desertification

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The idea is like this: keeping the grass short means drought because dewfall will be close to zero.  
> **username_1**: I think you are right. I don't have scientific papers to back this, but any sustainable gardening magazine will tell you to mow less often and/or higher to prevent the grass from dying of drought. It has to do with a simple concept: evapotranspiration. With longer grass you prevent the soil from losing its water through evapotranspiration. Look for "sustainable lawn" for more info, and try to convince your local authority! Many towns have already turned to better practices.  
> **username_0**: Herb size is related to dewfall amount: "After crops were planted the number of dewfall-nights and the amount of dewfall per event rose quickly and eventually surpassed that on the lysimeters with grass. After harvest both parameters dropped well below the values on the grass lysimeters again." ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169409004806 )  
> **username_0**: "Dewfall was shown to increase with pasture height and biomass" ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022169494902208 )  
> **username_0**: Grass dew comes from the air: "According to the isotopic labeling, dew water consisted of a downward flux of water vapor from above the canopy (98%) and upward fluxes originated from soil evaporation and transpiration of the leaves in the lower canopy (2%)" ( https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00442-011-2091-0 )  
> **username_0**: I have a 50 years old soviet book about lawns, there is a map of the climatic zones and South-East of Ukraine is officially arid area there. The noth-west is much more wet.  
> **username_0**: Black area is a shadow. There is a whole town of similar dying lawns. Many similar towns. And I cannot find the expert that could confirm officially that it is catastrophe.  

---

## 0 answers

