How Often to Mow Lawn?
You’ll spend a lot of time mowing your grass as part of lawn care. Mowing your lawn at the proper height will give your house a nice appearance and maintain your grass growing at its best, whether it’s simply another work or a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon or you have decided to mow your lawn early.
Several factors determine how often to mow lawn. These include the quantity of rainfall, the kind of soil, the type of grass, fertilizer, and the time you have to complete the work. Here are some basic tips to help you choose the ideal lawn-mowing routine. In this post, we’ll go through how often should you cut your grass depending on the type of grasses you have and other factors determining how often you mow.
How Often Should You Mow Your Lawn?
You’ve likely had to decide how frequently to mow your grass as a homeowner. Normal lawn maintenance calls for weekly mowing, but some lawns require more frequent care. Other lawns will develop more slowly and may only require mowing every ten days or two weeks.
Do not even remove more than one-third of the grass blade. Beyond that, the grass could suffer. The yard’s length, NOT when it was last mowed, should be the deciding factor. Finances are largely involved, like “Would missing a week of mowing the yard be more cost-effective?”
When to Mow Your Lawn?
During the growth season, grass requires the most cutting. The summer seasons are for warm-season grasses; cool-season grasses grow in the spring and fall instead. If they are not damp and heavy, leave the grass clippings on the lawn to nourish it. These clippings might have a nitrogen content of 3–4% and a potassium content of 2.5–3.5%.
Each spring, mow the lawn in the early stages of its growth before it turns green. The lawn receives its signal to begin growing when the old, dead tips are clipped off. The faster your grass grows, the more effectively you can crowd out weeds before they sprout. Those larger weeds may hide the rocks present in your lawn which you have to carefully remove before mowing your yard.
Follow the One-Third Rule to Mow the Lawn
According to the one-third rule, you should only chop off the top third of your grass blades when mowing. Therefore, you should mow grass with three-inch blades when it reaches a height of around 4.5 inches (3/4.5 = 0.667). When mowing your lawn, go for a height of four inches (4 / 6 = 0.667) if you want it to appear a little fuller.
It might be tempting to chop at an overgrown lawn, eliminating the whole of the grass blades in one session, but this can stress the grass as well as your mower blades so don’t forget to sharpen your mower blades before next grass cutting session. Thereby, by removing too much of the grass at once, the lawn is starved and becomes brown. When mowing your lawn, remove a third of the height of the grass blades at once. If you need to trim more than this, mow your lawn often until it is the height you want, but never more than one-third at once.
Types of Grasses
Knowing your grass type is the first step in determining how frequently to mow. Which type of grass do you have, warm-season or cool-season? See the suggested mowing height for your particular grass type in the chart below.
| Grass Name | Grass Type | Recommended height for home lawns |
| 1. Kentucky bluegrass | Cool Season | 2.5 – 3.5 inches |
| 2. Perennial ryegrass | Cool Season | 1.5 – 2.5 inches |
| 3. Turf – type tall fescue | Cool Season | 2 – 3 inches |
| 4. Zoysia | Warm Season | 1 – 2 inches |
| 5. Centipede | Warm Season | 1 – 2 inches |
| 6. Common Bermuda grass | Warm Season | 1 – 2 inches |
1. Warm-Season Grasses
Warm-season grass is most commonly found in the southern and southwestern states, with hot summers and mild winters. Zoysia Grass, St. Augustine, Bermuda, and Buffalo thrive best in the hot summer weather but do not overgrow as well as cool-season grasses. These grasses will require more frequent mowing when rainfall is regular daily.
2. Cool-Season Grasses
Fescues, bluegrass, and ryegrass are all cold-season grasses that grow rapidly in the spring and fall and require more frequent mowing when rainfall is often heavier. Broadleaf weeds can be eliminated by mowing in the spring at a height higher than the ideal height for your grass type. The growth rate will slow down, and mowing will be less necessary during the warmest summer months.
3. New lawn Grass
Once new grass has begun to develop, you should mow it like an established lawn. While it is OK to start mowing fresh grass after it has grown taller than is suitable for the type, doing so too soon will harm the sensitive new leaves.
4. Shade Grasses
Most grasses grow best when exposed to a lot of sun. Makes it difficult for grass to grow in heavy shade. Special shade mixes are available at most grass seed stores, but germination is light-dependent, so it isn’t easy to maintain a shaded lawn in good condition. In general, cool-season grass performs better in these conditions. It can help to cut high and less often in these areas. You might also consider planting a perennial flower bed or choosing a mossy lawn under your canopy.
Factors Affecting Mowing Height
1. Lawn Turf
Compared to commercial grass, home lawns require less maintenance. For home lawn maintenance the push mowers are ideal from brands such as husqvarna lC121P and husqvarna 7201p Due to how short they are cut, athletic fields may have mowings as frequently as once daily. They require more frequent mowing because of their short turf, which prevents them from removing more than one-third of the blade at once.
2. Time of the year
Expect your mowing frequency to rise throughout the busiest part of the growing season. However, because your grass grows more slowly in some seasons, you may anticipate mowing less regularly. Zoysiagrass and centipedegrass are two grass varieties that grow slowly.
The frequency of mowing for other grasses ranges from low to high, with cool-season grasses needing to be cut more frequently in the fall. This means that at certain periods, plan to mow more regularly. The last few cuts in the fall and the first few in the spring should be shorter than the recommended mowing height for both warm and cool-season types of grass. The appropriate mowing height for your particular grass variety should be followed between these periods.
Problems Caused by Improper Mowing
If after trimming your lawn it seems unhealthy:
- Your lawnmower’s blade setting can be set too low, resulting in scalping and exposing the soil and crown to too much heat.
- Your leaves’ shredded or yellow appearance might be due to dull mower blades.
- The bleaching of the leaf blades might be caused by letting your grass grow too long before trimming it.
Managing Grass Clipping
Mowing your lawn during its growth height may result in windrows or mounds of unpleasant damp clippings. Increased mowing frequency will help you avoid this issue. When the grass has grown to between 30% and 50% over the height it was last mowed, you should trim your lawn. If your lawn is kept at a 2-inch height, mow it once more when it reaches 3 inches.
You will need to mow the grass a few more times if it has grown to a height of 5 inches, only removing a little bit of the growth each time. Taking too much off at once will simply result in additional clippings, which might shade the remaining grass and weaken it by eliminating too many active ones.
Conclusion
The season has the most impact on how often you should mow your grass. If you don’t give your grass a weekly or every four-day trim throughout the rainy, wet seasons, it will grow higher and higher. When it’s hot outside, your lawn needs shade to keep its vibrant green color. Finally, the health of your grass is best assessed by you. Instead of mowing it down with the rest of your lawn, please pay attention to spots where your grass may appear sparser and need more assistance growing.
