Most homeowners think of lawn mowing in terms of keeping their grass neat and tidy but give little thought to just how much proper mowing can contribute to the overall look (and health) of the lawn.
While mowing is a relatively simple task, the fact is, everything from cut height to the mower’s condition to even timing can make a really big difference.
Since we mow lawns for our clients that trust us for complete property maintenance, we know homeowners in North Texas often appreciate being armed with the right information about best practices.
Whether you’re mowing your lawn yourself or thinking about hiring a professional lawn care service, we want to help get important information out there in order to make sure that your lawn gets the best possible results. That’s why we’ve rounded up these helpful lawn mowing tips.
When it comes to how to cut grass properly, the mowing height is important. More often than not, homeowners (and even some so-called “pros”) cut the grass too short. This puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your lawn and can actually cause it to yellow.
Of course, the ideal mowing heights are going to vary depending upon what grass type you have in your lawn.
As a general rule of thumb, we generally recommend cutting Bermuda grass around 2.5 to 3 inches, though on the higher side is better. Zoysia, however, can be cut shorter. We generally recommend somewhere between 1.5 to 3 inches, depending upon the look the homeowner wants to achieve. Finally, St. Augustine should generally be cut around 2 to 2.5 inches.
If you are working with a professional mowing company in North Texas, it’s important that they are raising or lowering the mowing deck to make the cut height ideal for the species of grass in your lawn. Of course, many rush jobs are just performed with all lawns cut the same, instead of taking a custom approach.
In addition to cut height, how much of the grass is cut at one time is another critical factor. We advise cutting no more than one-third of the grass blade at a time as anything more just puts too much stress on the plant. This is why it’s important to mow weekly and is the reason why Grassperson does not offer bi-weekly mowing services.
Even if you perform your lawn mowing work yourself, you should also aim to mow once a week instead of bi-weekly. Not only are you damaging the health of your turf for the long-term by making such drastic cuts each time you mow, but you are also putting a lot more wear and tear on your mower. You’ll find that your blades will dull much faster and it will take twice as long to mow the lawn as it would for a weekly cut.
There’s no doubt that the condition of the mowing equipment can also impact your results. Most importantly is the condition of the blades. If you’re working with a mowing service, it’s important to find a pro who understands the vital importance of well-sharpened blades.
At Grassperson, we have to sharpen our mowing blades a minimum of twice per week due to the amount of lawns we cover in a given week. If you’re mowing your lawn yourself, it’s a good idea to sharpen your blades two or three times a year for an average-sized lawn.
The trouble with mowing a lawn with a dull blade is that it’s going to make a jagged cut, which is stressful for the lawn to recover from. What you want is a nice, clean cut that is going to be easy for the lawn to heal from and in turn won’t cause your lawn to yellow as it struggles to repair itself from the cut.
In terms of important mowing tips, timing is also critical. For one, we always advise avoiding mowing after a significant rainfall as it’s going to leave ruts in your yard, which can be difficult to get rid of.
However, on the flip side, we do recommend that homeowners water the day after mowing is performed as this just gives the lawn a nice little boost when it’s in “repair mode” from being cut. Even when cut properly, the grass is still stressed by mowing. The key is to stress it as minimally as possible.
Another way to avoid ruts and to keep grass looking its best is to mow in a different direction each week. At Grassperson, we keep track of this. If we mowed North to South one week, we’ll mow East to West the next. We’re continually changing the direction for the optimal cut.
We also get a lot of questions about the seasonality of mowing. At Grassperson, we typically wrap up our mowing season around the end of October. However, many of our clients’ lawns still get some growth in November. When that occurs, we do advise one final mow before the winter in order to have the lawn neat and trim. The last thing that you want is an ugly lawn throughout the winter season when you could have had one final mow easily performed.
Finally, in terms of when to mow your lawn, we also get questions about mowing after lawn care treatments. It is our recommendation to not mow for one day after lawn fertilization and weed control has been performed, just to give the products a good amount of time to work before the lawn is cut.
We get a lot of questions about grass clippings and what’s best. The truth is, what’s best is not what’s always preferred. What’s truly best for your lawn is to mulch the clippings and allow them to naturally decompose on your lawn. This is giving your lawn a nice boost of natural fertilizer and is organically a great practice for the health of your lawn.
However, some homeowners feel that grass clippings left on the lawn are messy and they’d prefer that these are bagged. At Grassperson, we do offer this service at an additional cost, if desired.
Whether you incorporate our professional mowing services into your Total Maintenance package, you work with another mowing service, or you perform this service yourself, we want to see you get the best possible results. Though it’s often surprising, the way in which your lawn is mowed really can impact its overall health. That’s why following these recommendations and making changes is important.
Of course, some North Texas homeowners would rather not have to deal with the hassle. Once they recognize that lawn mowing is a bit more involved than they bargained for, and how much it’s impacting their lawn care results, they decide they’d rather just have one company handle it all along with other property maintenance tasks. That takes away the burden and also provides peace of mind that proper mowing protocols are being performed. In the end, it will all help you achieve that great-looking lawn you deserve.
Ready for a gorgeous lawn at your Flower Mound, Highland Village, or Lewisville, TX home? Get a free quote and get ready to enjoy the best lawn on the block.
