How Important is Proper Lawn Cutting Anyway?

How Important is Proper Lawn Cutting Anyway?

It’s pretty amazing how much proper lawn cutting can improve the health and appearance of your lawn!  Proper lawn cutting is probably the most important cultural practice to promote turf vigor and growth and keep your lawn looking great. Many problems with lawns are caused, by poor mowing practices, including mowing too short, mowing with dull blades, mowing infrequently, or cutting too much at once. All these practices can cause turfgrass stress, which can lead to turfgrass plant decline.

So, what can you and your mowing machine do to get the most from your lawn care investment?

1. Set Your Mower High. Typically, most cool season grasses like we have including, Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Fine Fescue and Tall Fescue grow best at 3 to 3 & 1/2 inches.

Set your mower at the highest preferred setting for your turf species and only cut the top 1/3 of the grass blades at any one time, even if this means you have to mow again after several days. This is because longer grass blades can grow and support more roots and develop a deeper root system that is better able to find water and nutrients in the soil. Cutting too aggressively, also called “scalping the lawn,” forces grass plants to focus their energy on re-growing their blades, not deepening their roots. Scalping the lawn also makes your lawn more prone to weeds. Taller grass blades shade the soil and keep it cooler, helping prevent weed seeds from sprouting. Plus, there are lifestyle benefits: Taller grass is softer to walk on and helps cushion falls better than short grass. Make sure that you consult your machine owners-manual, your implement dealer, or the manufacturers website to confirm how the external numbers, letters or notches correspond to actual inches of machine cutting height!

Creeping Bentgrass is the exception for cool season grasses, and will perform better under a high maintenance turf program including a lower cutting height, typically with a Reel type mower.

2. Mow a Dry Lawn

The best time of day to mow a lawn is in the early evening. Mowing at the peak of day, when temperatures are highest, stresses both the lawn and the mower. If you wait until the early evening, the lawn is usually dry (unless it has rained during the day), the sun is not as intense, and the lawn will have ample time to recover before the next afternoon’s heat arrives. Even if it hasn’t rained, lawns are usually wet in the morning because of moisture from dew or fog. If it does rain, wait for your lawn to dry before mowing, as cutting wet grass can result in an uneven trim. Wet clippings can also clog your mower and cause it to dump clumps of grass on your lawn; if they aren’t raked up, they can smother the growing grass and result in brown spots.  If you don’t irrigate your lawn, following this recommendation can effectively delay the browning of your lawn due to lack of rainfall, and help the lawns appearance.

3. Vary Your Mowing Pattern

You have probably noticed that professional landscapers vary their mowing patterns frequently. Each time you mow, do it in a different direction. If you always cut your lawn using the same pattern, your grass learns which direction it’s being cut from and begins to lean in the direction you mow. By varying the mowing pattern, you help avoid forming ruts in the lawn.

4. Don’t Mow on a Schedule

Mow as often as needed for your grass type, growing conditions, growth pattern, and season. This is a critical habit to develop! Sticking to a schedule, like every Saturday, doesn’t allow your lawn to be mowed when it actually needs it. When grass is actively growing in the spring, for example, it needs to be mowed more frequently (perhaps as much as twice a week), but when growth slows during the heat of summer or at the end of the growing season, your lawn may only need to be mowed once every week or two. The rational for developing this ‘New Habit’ goes back to the agronomic points raised in item #1 regarding mower height.

5. Wait Before Mowing a New Lawn

Following a typical new seeding, it’s best to wait for your new grass to get off to a great start before mowing. New grass seedlings can be cut for the first time when they’ve reached mowing height, which varies by grass type. No matter what type of grass you have, do not cut more than the top ⅓ of the grass blades. A dramatic cutting can shock and stress new grass plants, slowing down the growth of your new lawn. Typically, our cool-season grasses, depending on the species, require 10 days to 3 &1/2 weeks to germinate and another few weeks to develop and grow to an appropriate cutting height. Thus, waiting 3 ½ to 6 weeks to cut would be normal.

When mowing a new lawn from sod, not seed, wait 2 to 3 weeks before mowing to give the sod a chance to root into the soil. To test if it’s ready to mow, back off on watering and walk on the turf; if it’s firm enough to walk on, it’s good to mow. (You can also gently pull up on the sod to check whether or not it has rooted.) Don’t cut the grass shorter than 2 inches for the first few times. Be very careful while you mow so you don’t pull up any sod (if a section gets moved around, just put it back in place).

6. Leave Grass Clippings on Your Lawn

When mowing, leave the clippings on the lawn. Grass clippings decompose (if not too heavy) quickly and return beneficial nutrients to the soil. Mow often enough so too much isn’t removed at once and clippings are small. Removing too much of the grass blade shocks the grass and leaves piles of long clippings on the lawn that do not break down quickly and can smother growing grass.

7. Maintain A Sharp Mower Blade

For the cleanest cut, sharpen mower blades at the first sign of wear. Dull blades tear up grass, causing ragged, brown edges. Continually using a dull mower blade can also cause your grass to weaken over time, making it more susceptible to disease, insect damage, and other stresses (like heat and drought). A mower tune-up and blade sharpening once a year helps in many ways: Your mower will start easier, make cleaner cuts, and slice your clippings without bogging down the mower blades. Typically, mower blades should be sharpened more than one time per year, depending on the thickness of your turf and prevailing weather conditions. Also, remember to wash your mower after each use, to help prevent any blockages within the mower itself.

Hopefully we can work together, and help you develop your lawn to it’s fullest potential.