How high for last mowing?

thcri · Sep 20, 2004

I typicallly cut my grass during the summer at 3-1/2". Last time in the fall I cut it at 3". My experience is longer grass will prevent weeds from moving in much better. That is why I really haven't had a need for weed killers. But for some reason I read someplace and I can't remember where that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping.

murph

Gary_in_Indiana · Sep 20, 2004

"...I read someplace...that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping." 

I kind of had the same belief but, like you, I don't know where I got it or what the logic/reasoning behind it might have been. Maybe someone will enlighten us both. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

MossRoad · Sep 20, 2004

Probably one of those things passed down generation to generation, IE... I do it that way because my dad did it that way, and his dad, and his dad... but nobody knows why. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Gary_in_Indiana · Sep 20, 2004

"I do it that way because my dad did it that way, and his dad, and his dad... but nobody knows why." 

This is totally off topic but one of my favorite stories.

When first married I noticed my wife cut the end off the beef roast she was preparing and put it along the side of the roast before she cooked it. When I asked her why she told me that was how her Mom had shown her.

A while later at her parents' home I remembered and asked her Mom why she did it that way. Of course, she said it was the way she was taught by her Mother. Now I'm truly curious.

Christmas time came around and I took that opportunity to ask the family matriarch about this method of cooking a roast and why I was so interested. She laughed and her eyes sparkled as she told me that she only had a small roasting pan and that was the only way it would fit in her pan. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

fivestring · Sep 21, 2004

( I typicallly cut my grass during the summer at 3-1/2". Last time in the fall I cut it at 3". My experience is longer grass will prevent weeds from moving in much better. That is why I really haven't had a need for weed killers. But for some reason I read someplace and I can't remember where that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping.
murph )

The last cut should be as short as possible.
This keeps the possibility of diseases down.
Longer blades = more surface area for disease.

MossRoad · Sep 21, 2004

a small roasting pan 

Hee, hee. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif We've got the same story in our family only with a ham. Speaking with many people over the years, they also have the same story. Some were because the pan was too small. Some were because the ham was too big. Either way, it gets incorporated into the recipe as "it will taste better if you trim it first".

My dad wasn't a lawn man, so to speak. We lived in the woods and there just wasn't much grass. What was there was thin and mossy and was only mowed a few times a year. He never worked on the lawn mower, and we only had two in the 24 years that I lived there.

When I started dating my wife, I found her dad to be a true lawn man... mows it every three days no matter what. Sharpens his blades every two weeks. Changes the oil several times a year. Pulls the spark plug and cleans it often. Cleans the air filter. He's been through about half a dozen lawn mowers in the last 25 years. Copius use of chemicals, too. There isn't a living thing in his soil. It is a sterile growing medium for grass plants. His does that because that's the way his father taught him.

When we bought our first house in 1985, he gave us a lawn mower. I've never changed the oil. Never pulled the spark plug. Once in a while I'll tap out the air cleaner. It still starts most times on the first pull. Last week I sharpened the blade. As I recall, that's the first time in over 15 years. It cuts a little better, but that is about it.

What I'm getting at is what a powerful influence our role models can be. Good or bad. Right or wrong. So how do we learn how high to cut the grass in the fall? Do we break with tradition or try a new thing and take a risk? I say, try new things often. Make some test areas in the lawn. Do different things here and there and see what works best for us. One year I let the back yard go to clover instead of mowing. We had the best garden because the bees came for the clover flowers. I'd have never learned that without trying something. The neighbors weren't too happy about the clover, but it was green and pretty. So try something new. It may be better than the old way. It may not. But how are we going to know without trying? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif