Cut backs in council grass maintenance - is it affecting your respiratory condition?

[Turfcare]

Good morning (or if you're reading this later, good afternoon/good evening) folks.

Sometimes the council will put it down to saving the planet, being more greener, being environmentally friendly, or just simply trying to balance the budgets. As councils come under more and more financial constraints and choose fewer grass cuts as part of their new regimes is this effecting your breathing or agrivating your respiratory condition.

I'm curious to find out if what seems to be a practice all over the country nowadays is in actual fact contributing to an even unhealthier society. As a trained horticulturist I am aware of some of the pros and cons of being environmentally friendly in things we do on a day to day basis. However, as an asthmatic, I wonder is some of the 'new' ideas causing an unknown or unseen problem for those with breathing problens or allergies of one sort or another. Does long grass exacerbate your problems? If the long grass gets cut and is left drying in the sun, have you noticed if the dust or pollen is affecting you more?

Just one of two of my concerns that doing the right thing might not infact be the right thing for a lot of folk.

[Badbessie]

To be honest I live in a rural village and the cutting of verges etc as little effect as I am surrounded by fields anyway. However the area I live in as a very high rate of asthma. There are two large quarries nearby and due to dust many children are affected.

[Troilus]

Hi Turfcare - a subject close to my heart.I live next to a field that runs the length of the village and back to the town, so quite an expanse.

It was mowed fortnightly until summer 2018. Although I had hayfever, it had always been mild, no problems as long as I took antihistamine.

That summer, I developed a cough - not a chest infection, but it caused me to be breathless at times. I thought it must be bad hayfever, but the GP wouldn’t see me and I was referred to the pharmacist.

Come October, no problems.

2019 had my first ever asthma attack - a really bad attack. Oxygen levels 82, hospital admission.

2020 the respiratory nurse at the hospital asked if their had been any changes in my environment and that is when I drew a connection with the uncut field.

I approached the council who said they were trying to encourage wild orchids! They then said local wildlife.

So now I live next door to a thistle farm! Apart from my suspicions that it has some responsibility in the onset of asthma, it looks a bl…….. mess!

[Patk1]

Mu allergies have b worse this year

[Aingeful]

My friend has asthma and is seriously affected by pollen.

[SquirrelsHolt]

Hi Turfcare and your post was very interesting as it made me look at myself and my son's supposed "hayfever". Such a general term, which has such a huge range for people to fall into. I've thought i suffered from hayfever when the pollen counts were high whereas my son can have the sneezes and have runny eyes, when I'm not at all affected. We've been let down by our local friendly mower-man and our grass is now growing so tall we're thinking of buying a goat or two😂😂!! The long grass looks lovely and wild and dandelions and other wild flora, attract butterflies 🦋 and other 🐛🐝🐞🕷🐜little creatures. A very interesting topic. Enjoy the rest of your day. 🐿🥜🥜

[Turfcare]

Thanks to those who responded to my post. Tbh I thought that there would be a few more responses but that is maybe down to the problem being less than I had thought. Maybe it's just down to my condition getting worse.