What is the Proper Mowing Height for your Lawn?

How long should your grass be? What is the ideal height?

Proper mowing height is a crucial part in having a great looking lawn. This is 1/3 of the equation to making your lawn stand out. We at Lawn Solutions will work together with you or your Landscaper on proper mowing heights for your lawn.

What is the ideal grass height?

Generally speaking, the taller the cut the healthier your lawn will be. But, we understand that many homeowners prefer lower heights, so it’s always of balance of beauty and strength.

Homeowners generally like to see a nice clean and short cut on their lawns, But, this is usually detrimental to the overall health of your turf. We have to find a good compromise to make the lawn both beautiful and resistant to the curve balls mother nature may throw at it. When your lawn is too short, you will run into problems, especially during weather extremes.

There are many factors that play into the mowing height of your lawn. A taller cut creates a higher canopy, and that creates more shade for the soil to stay cooler. This is especially important during the summer months and on non irrigated lawns.

Also, a taller cut will help with a better more vigorous root system for your turf. So a taller cut makes for an overall stronger grass that can withstand the extreme fluctuations mother nature may throw during the year as a result the turf will be healthier and stronger.

2 inches or shorter may look nice, but it’s sub-optimal for the lawn to thrive throughout the growing season. It can also create more problems especially during the summer months when it gets hot and dry. Ideally, if you can tolerate a taller cut of 3.5 inches, your lawn will be happier. However, if you feel that is too long, a good compromise would be 3 inches.

For all of you that want to set your lawnmower height to one setting (i.e. set it and forget it), I would strongly recommend a 3 inch mowing height. This means once you cut your lawn and put a tape measure down to the soil to the top of the turf grass, it would measure 3 inches.

Importance of equipment maintenance

When moving the lawn, always remember that your blades need to be sharp. This will give a clean cut blades of grass. If the blades are dull, they won’t cut the grass cleanly, and they will tear the blades of grass. This of course injures the grass (not to mention it looks less attractive.

The best analogy is parallel to when you use old dull razor to shave. This results in cuts and nicks to your skin.

Great care should be given when sharpening your mower blades and should be done often. In fact, most landscapers sharpen their mower blades on a weekly basis.

Should you use a trimmer for the edges?

In my experience, you are better off forgetting about the weed whacker to trim all your edges. Why? Because one mistake and scalping the turf will wreck your lawn for the entire year.

Instead, Lawn Solutions suggests trimming your edges several times a year to give a defined edge and reduce the potential for a weed whacker to scalp your lawn (which happens more often than people expect).

For homeowners who mow their own lawns and do their own watering, we recommend you modify your cutting throughout the season. This can be a way for you to get by with a short lawn 2/3 of the mowing year.

Recommended plan

In the spring, you can cut your lawn at 2.5 inches from end of March depending on weather till the end of May. Then, you should raise the mowing height by at least .5 an inch to 1 inch from June 1st till September 1st during the hottest time of the year.

Then finally you can drop the mowing height back down to 2.5 inches from September until the end of October. Your final cut can be made at 2 inches as to help with fall clean up. You can use this as a guideline for adjusting mowing heights for your lawn. Just remember that these are guidelines, and temperature fluctuations will play the most important role in your decision. So the timeline to adjust your mowing height may change on the temperature and amount of water the lawn is receiving.

Remember that watering will also play an important part of the equation which is the 2nd third of the puzzle to a great looking lawn. Adjusting mowing heights throughout the year can be done by someone who is willing to pay attention to the details. Also other factors to consider is how much water is getting down on your lawn on a weekly basis.

When you’re ready for a beautiful and healthy lawn, call us at Lawn Solutions 203-.424-1164. Our estimates are always FREE. Or, fill out our contact form below.

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