When To Mow

Timing Is Key

Knowing when to mow your lawn helps ensure beautiful, healthy turf that looks well manicured and cared for. Following some basic mowing tips and doing your regular mowing at proper intervals keeps a lawn looking good and also helps develop healthy roots.

During the spring and fall, most grass should be kept at a height of about two inches. As the weather gets hotter in the summer months, raise the mower blade and cut at two and a half to three and a half inches.

The higher grass blades provide shade for the underlying growth and help keep moisture in the soil, which reduces the need for watering. Taller blades also help crowd out weed growth and weed seeds from germinating. For summer lawncare, the higher the non-excessive growth the better.

Timing Is Everything!

When mowing lawns, the all important rule to not remove any more than one third of the grass blades at any single cutting is crucial. Cutting any more than that damages the grass by leaving more thatch than is healthy and exposing roots and tender new growth to the harsh sun, especially in the summer months.

To follow this rule you'll need to mow more often in the spring and fall, after periods of heavy rainfall, and after fertilizer has been applied and the grass is growing quickly.

To ensure a clean cut and even distribution of the clippings, never cut on wet lawns. From a safety perspective, wet lawns mean you're more vulnerable to slipping, both by foot and by the mower wheels. It's best to mow a lawn when the blades are dry.

Time Of Day

Freshly cut grass is stressed and always needs time to recover. Cutting too early in the morning might mean that the morning dew hasn't dried yet. Morning cutting also exposes the grass to stress from the sun much quicker.

The best time of the day to mow is late in the afternoon or in the evening. Evening cutting gives the lawn about twelve hours of relief from the sun and therefore, a better recovery experience.

In summary, keeping in mind the above tips and advice, when to mow is when the lawn needs it.

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