Mowing

WHAT HEIGHT SHOULD I MOW MY LAWN AT?

Your lawn should be maintained at 6 - 7.5 centimeters long. It should be kept longer throughout most of the season and can be mowed a bit shorter for the last cutting of the season.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD MY LAWN BE CUT?

As simple as this answer sounds, your lawn should be cut frequently enough to maintain the ideal height of 6 - 7.5 centimeters. This means your lawn may require mowing twice weekly in the spring and fall during the peak growing season. Mowing may only be necessary once every two weeks during the hot summer. A longer cutting height results in a stronger deeper root system. You should not remove more than 1/3 of the leaf blade in a single cutting as this will put stress on the grass plants and can cause it to go brown. With some water and improved conditions these areas will usually recover on their own. This means if the lawn has been allowed to get excessively long, you should raise your mower to the highest setting before cutting and may need to cut again a couple days later to get it back to the ideal mowing height.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A SHARP BLADE? HOW OFTEN SHOULD MY LAWN MOWER'S BLADE BE SHARPENED?

Lawn mower blades should be kept razor sharp. A sharp blade makes a clean precise cut of each grass blade. The crisp cut allows the blade to heal quickly. A dull blade chews and frays grass blades. This results in rough tips which take much longer to heal and expose the wounded tissue to possible turf disease attack. To maintain a sharp blade, it may be necessary to have the blade sharpened up to 3 times yearly. For most people sharpening in the spring before you start mowing for the season and then again half way through the summer would be acceptable. It is also important to sharpen the mower blade of even a brand new lawnmower. Few mower blades are sold with a pre-sharpened blade. As a safety feature, a mower blade is usually sold factory sharp which is not adequate for mowing the lawn.

WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT THE GRASS CLIPPING?

Grass clippings should be left on the lawn after mowing. Returning grass clippings to a lawn is an environmentally beneficial practice referred to as grass cycling. Leaving the clippings to decompose on a lawn adds valuable nutrients back into the soil. The use of a mulching type mower is preferred for this practice since it promotes a more uniform distribution of grass clippings, allowing for faster decomposition.

It is only necessary to remove lawn clippings if they are long and will smother the grass.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Ideally the lawn should only be mowed when the grass blades are dry.
• The mowing direction should be altered with each mowing. This will keep the grass growing strong and straight while helping to reduce weed infestation.