Mow tall, mow often!

It’s spring and the weather is finally cooperating! It is great to be able to enjoy our homes and outdoor spaces. A lush, thick lawn is something we all aspire to and with all the time we have to be hunkered in, we are actually out there enjoying our grass. We figured we would blog about grass and how to achieve that gorgeous lawn.

“Mow high, mow often” is a common phrase in the landscape industry. It is often at odds with a client’s budget and we get that. Some opt for bi-weekly mowing to help with the margins or budgets they have set for themselves. We also serve clientele that have us mow weekly and contract with fertilizer companies as well as have irrigation to help their lawns thrive. We will discuss the two alternatives and give a third alternative that we offer.

Mow high, mow often (7-day interval) is scientifically better for your lawn. It doesn’t take much googling to come across a blog or two explaining the chlorophyll of the blade and photosynthesis that occurs. We usually show customers how dark their grass is at the tips and how yellow and bare it is near the roots. Just pluck a grass blade from the base and fold it in half, then compare the ends. It’s greener and nicer at the tips. Leaving it longer (3.5”-4”) encourages that lush look. Also, it allows the roots to grow deeper and the dirt to be shaded keeps it moist longer.

Cutting low (2.5”-3”) and keeping a longer interval (14 days – we don’t take clients at intervals longer than 14) can be harmful to the grass. If a customer can’t afford to do weekly or their lawn might be shady and slow growing, we would do this bi-weekly. It is not the best for the lawn, but we understand the client’s constraints and of course they can choose what they prefer. During high growth periods, some customers complain that the grass gets too long during this interval and actually ask that the lawn be cut even lower. This produces excessive clippings and their lawn looks like a hayfield ready to be baled. In this case, the short-term goal of not having the lawn look like a hayfield can be achieved by adding in a weekly cut for the high growth month. Some customers switch to a 10-day interval instead.
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Cutting at a 10-day interval is actually a decent compromise to the two extremes. A 7-day interval is cut 26 times a year, a 14-day interval is cut 13-14 times and a 10-day interval is cut 18 times roughly. Having that 10-day interval allows for a healthier lawn and helps the budget. A lot of contractors do not offer 10-day interval due to the confusion of scheduling. We use a pretty sophisticated cloud-based software to help us schedule. It allows us to offer the various schedules with ease. Our goal is to help our customers find the right balance to caring for their lawn and budget.
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Tall grass after a longer interval between mowings and a high growth period. 

After mowing - the grass is cut but it leaves the yard looking like a hayfield. Not ideal or healthy for the lawn.