What Height Do You All Cut Your Grass?

robertm · May 5, 2004

As it asks... I'm looking to liven up my grass and after airating and fertilizing, what height should prove to be most heathy for the grass? Right now I'm cutting it at 3 inches and it looks like it's at 6 inches in the breeze! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I would like to cut it shorter, but am afraid it'll burn out... especially after I spray the dandelions. I really need to get this grass t thicken up and liven up. Any recommendations?

Gatorboy · May 5, 2004

3"-3.5" is probably the best height for healthy grass. If you cut at 3" your grass will have a 3" root; if you cut at 2" your grass will only have a 2" root. This is a big reason why grass cut too short can't handle the summers.

Are you sure you are at 3"? Put your mower on the driveway and measure from the ground up to your deck -- don't trust any numbering on your deck if you are using that as a guide.

Bob_Skurka · May 5, 2004

We keep ours pretty low, probably 2.5 or 2.75". But if you just sprayed the lawn you might want to leave it for a week and then cut it twice, once to your normal lenght, and then a few days later to a shorter lenght. You need to let the weed & feed do its thing so if you cut it too soon you'll cut off the chemicals before they get into the plants.

As for getting it to thicken up, I tend to avoid chemical fertilizers (like Scotts) because they tend to keep the nutrients near the surface, which creates a thick mat of roots just under the lawns surface. That keeps the roots high in the soil rather than sending the roots deep. If the roots are deep, the grass can reach more water in dry spells. If you believe that theory, then the proper approach is to get rid of the "thatch" which is actually your root mat by physical means (airator, slitter, etc) and then top dressing the lawn with compost (a thin layer -1/2" or so- of compost or healthy dirt) spread after the airation. Do that in the spring, again in the fall, maybe for a couple of years. Use an organic fertilizer that does not kill the beneficial bugs in your soil and that will help also.

In addition to that, you can overseed the lawn as well. But if you overseed, then I would do some serious airation (like do it 3 or 4 times) and I would definately top dress with compost or dirt before I did the over seeding. The hardest part is the top dressing becuase it is actrually fairly difficult to spread a really thin layer . . . a York rake could be somewhat helpful if you kept the pressure very light so it didn't tear up much. The yard will look a little worse before it looks better because of all the airation and top dressing. In the long run, the goal is to keep the roots going down into the soil, not keep them on top of it. A thriving healthy lawn will also be somewhat weed resistant. I never "feed" my lawn with chemical fertilizers, and I keep the dandeline killer to a minimum. My yard doesn't look perfect, but it stays green and doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to maintain. My dad used to spend more money on "Scotts" each year to keep up his 1/4 acre than I spend on my acreage in 5 years.

Bob_Skurka · May 5, 2004

Gatorboy. . . I'll argue with you a bit about root length. Different varietly of grass plants have different length roots. You can test this by planting them in glass. My kid just won the science fair at her school doing exactly this project. She tested several theories, she seems have, at least superficially, proved some of what I previously posted.

Gatorboy · May 5, 2004

( I'll argue with you a bit about root length )

I understand all the different grasses -- I was trying to talk in general terms. A big contributor to root length is also the amount of watering. If people water too much, the roots have no need to go down deep, and hang out near the surface -- when the water dries up, so does the grass.

Longer grass also shades the ground a bit better to keep the roots cooler.

But to answer the question of the thread -- I cut mine during the summer at 3.5" and in the fall I work my way down to 2.5".

I love to learn alot of new things about grass -- I bet your daughters project WAS a good one. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

cowboydoc · May 5, 2004

6" is the minimum height for optimum grass. This has been researched significantly in the pasture area. Every seminar I have been to I have seen alot of research on this. Once you get below 6" your grass is going to be hindered. The reason lawns do well is because most of them are watered regularly, they are regularly fertilized, aerated, etc. In essense they are babied. But if you want to talk about the healthiest for the grass it's 6". I cut mine as tall as my mower will go. I'm not one that does much with my lawn besides mow it. It used to brown up in the late summer and die out in patches. Since I started mowing it high it stays green all summer and it has gotten much thicker the last two years without doing anything to it.

NIXON · May 5, 2004

( Use an organic fertilizer that does not kill the beneficial bugs in your soil and that will help also.

)

Bob What exactly is organic fertilizer ?? Are you using a homebrew ,or is it commercially available ?
I mow my yard at about 3 inches . Never less than that . I mow the septic mound at about 4 inches . Mind you it's a country lawn not a showpiece by any stretch . But it stays pretty much weed free . Unless white clover is considered a weed . In that case I've got a lot of weeds /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif John

cowboydoc · May 5, 2004

Organic fertilizer is either cow/horse dung or it's composted from food, leaves, dung, etc. for months and then put on as organic fertilizer. I've got all you would ever want just for the taking!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Organic for the most part is just a buzz word.

NIXON · May 5, 2004

Thanks for the kind offer Doc ! Actually I get all I need from my in laws . I let it cook for about two years before using it . I just thought that there was something I was missing out on that was a bit "quicker " to use /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif So much for instant gratification ! Actually I'm thinking about approaching the farmer down the road about getting some of his manure . My place was strip mined years ago ,and the soil is poor to say the least . It's very acidic ,so I'm looking into ways of decreasing the acidityas well as improving the amount of organic matter in the soil . I'm real new to this ,so I'm trying to go about it carefully. John

Bird · May 5, 2004

( 6" is the minimum height for optimum grass )

Richard, wouldn't it make a difference as to what kind of grass, climate, soil, etc. that you have? When we had a house in town, I maintained one of the nicest lawns in the neighborhood; common bermuda for the most part with some St. Augustine in perpetually shaded areas. And yes, I fertilized twice a year, watered once a week during dry weather. I never used a dethatcher, but used a grass catcher, and the first mowing in the early Spring, I set the mower as low as it would go and scalped it, just before the first fertilization, then each time I mowed I raised the mower one notch until it was at next to the highest setting for the rest of the year. But that was still only about 3 to 3.5".