What Height Do You All Cut Your Grass?

Mosey · May 7, 2004

"Did you know that bagging the grass causes the grass to grow faster? Yep, if you leave the clippings -- not only is it great for your grass -- it won't grow as fast."

That's really interesting. My "grass" (which is not quite as crude as Slamfire's, but certainly not lush lawn grass either) grows fast all the time. The soil is clay and this wet humid climate of southern Indiana, with frequent rain in the spring and early summer, keeps it damp. Remember the posts a while ago about crawdads living in my yard? The clay keeps the moisture in. I've tried mowing the grass short and I've tried mowing it tall, nothing seems to matter, it still grows really fast.

If I mow it too short, then there's no place for the clippings to go and they lay on top and it looks bad. But this will make it grow slower you say? Why?

I have 2 sections of yard. Up around the house where the kids play most of the time, and the "outer section". Total is about 3 1/2 acres.

I mow up around the house at about 2 1/2" so the grass doesn't interfere with the kids playing. I use my Craftsman rider with a 42" deck for most of it and my 20" push mower in spots where the rider can't get.

As for the rest, I mow as infrequently as I can get away with (since I've got better things to do!) and use the TC29D and the 6' Landpride rear finish mower to mow at 3 1/2", which is just tall enough for the clippings to have someplace to go and get out of sight in a day or two. I don't mow the outer section as often and sometimes it gets over a foot tall between mowings, but the TC29D and the 6' Landpride rear finish mower takes care if it with no problem. If the kids are wanting to do something, such as fly kites or play ball, then I mow it for them. But, I just hate to spend time mowing it if no one is going to be out there.

I hate to spend time mowing it when it's just going to be tall again in just a few days. When it gets to be mid summer and it dries out a bit, I mow it a little shorter (just the opposite as most folks) and don't mind doing it since it will stay short long enough to be worth the time to go do it. With the clay soil and the humidity I don't have a problem with brown grass. If we do have a bit of a drought, then I don't worry about it, it always greens up again.

Gatorboy · May 7, 2004

( If I mow it too short, then there's no place for the clippings to go and they lay on top and it looks bad )

You should cut your grass often enough so that you are only cutting at most 1/3 of the blade at a time. More than that is not good for the grass.

As far as why grass grows a bit slower with the clippings on -- I can't remember where I read it, but I read that someplace and it has always stuck in my head.

TresCrows · May 13, 2004

I mow at about 3 inches for fescue. I have always mowed St Augustine at about 2 inches. I never bag or rack grass clipping unless I had to mow it all at once after it got to long and there are windrows. I try to rack those up a bit and spread them out.
Mowing length in my back four of broam and clower and weeds likes to be mowed woith my deck pinned up. Mowing it shorter with my rotary cutter does not work as well. As an experiment I mowed some areas with the deck pinned up last year (about 6 inches) and the rest using the hog set at about 3 to 4 inches. The areas mowed with the deck pinned at about 6 inches are lusher and healthier and have fewer weeds. J

Mosey · May 13, 2004

"You should cut your grass often enough so that you are only cutting at most 1/3 of the blade at a time. More than that is not good for the grass."

What I should do and what I have time to do are 2 different things!

Why is it "not good for the grass" to let it grow more? What does it do to the grass?

Gatorboy · May 13, 2004

( Why is it "not good for the grass" to let it grow more? What does it do to the grass? )

When you take any more than a third off, and you run the risk of severely damaging the individual grass plants. This can lead to a dull, lifeless looking lawn or worse brown spots of dead grass.

This isn't something I heard once on a rare occassion. It seems to be a common theme whenever you read about mowing your lawn.

KiotiJohn · May 14, 2004

I agree with cowboydoc and gatorboy on many points. Over watering is really detrimental as gatorboy said because to get a good root stock it's necessary for the grass plant to search out moisture by growing deeper, looking for water. Keeping the grass longer is better. One reason is that photosynthesis, which is necessary for growth, occurs much better with longer blades. Shading of the ground to help hold in moisture (while only watering occasionally) and helps keep weeds from growing. Here is an excellent article on lawn care from the Environmental Protection Agency. I think you'll find some good information. John
Lawn Care Brochure

LBrown59 · Nov 22, 2004

I've been mowing mine for 38 years at 4 inches high.while my neighbors to the right and left mow theirs much shorter.
Guess who has the greenest yard in the middle of the 3?
I have also noticed that you can't see the difference in the hight if we all three mow about the same day.

I leave the clippings and the fall leaves lay.
My yard looks as good or better than theirs with out any of the extra work.
I had been mowing every 14 days with my MTD 46"lawn tractor.
I'm going to go with 10 days now that I have a bx23 with 60" MMM.

Soundguy · Nov 22, 2004

4" to 6" in the pasture.

Soundguy

keeney · Nov 22, 2004

3 to 3-1/2" for my finished lawn. For special occasions, I will sometimes cut it down closer to 2-1/2" because it does look a little more precisely "groomed" at the shorter height.

Even though I have unlimited water (pumping from a lake), the grass is just healthier when kept at the longer height.

Letting it get out of hand and go longer is not such a problem if you cut it back gradually, but it can allow other weeds to get a foothold as well.

The 3+" height also prevents some issues with scalping on high spots.

- Ricik