Weekly or bi-weekly? Every 5 days or every 10 days? Whenever you feel like doing it? Twice a week?
Just a look through our Euclid, Ohio neighborhoods and the surrounding area, it is pretty clear many don't know:
But I will tell you just how often to mow your cool-season grass. I love green grass, and not just mine or my customers. I wish everyone had green grass not just in the early spring, but throughout the growing season. A green lawn will make you feel better than great pulling into your driveway. I want you to have that feeling.
But you must stop mowing at the wrong frequency. It's worse than mowing at the less-than-ideal time of day.
I do understand how often you mow the lawn is just one of several tips I could give you to produce a healthy lawn, but incorrect mowing intervals will hamper those other efforts.
When you mow at the wrong frequency you:
As you can see, the incorrect mowing frequency will hurt your lawn and lawn mower.
90 - 100 percent of the time you will need to mow lawns around here weekly. If your lawn is healthy, cut it weekly. If your lawn is struggling to fight off weeds but grows, cut it weekly. Your lawn is made up of millions of little plants, and they want proper care.
Don't force the grass to try and grow slower by hacking it down as low as possible. In the spring, this backfires and causes it to grow faster. At other times, it is slowly killing your lawn to do so. Always follow the 1/3rd rule, along with the proper mowing height (it's higher than you may think) depending on the season.
Mowing height and mowing frequency go together. One without the other is a failure sure to happen.
If you are following the proper mowing heights, then waiting more than a week to mow the lawn could cause neighbors to become unhappy and call the city. Do you like tickets and fines?
Cut it weekly.
Supposed you cut it too short, or took too much off at once. Suddenly, a few days to a week later, you notice more weeds growing in the lawn, You notice newer weeds growing in the lawn. It seems as if the weeds are growing triple faster than the grass. What to do now?
Begin to cut it weekly. Then aerate and overseed in the fall and begin doing things right next year when it comes to mowing.
What if you put in great efforts, or spent good money to produce a healthy lawn?
Aerating, detaching, overseeding, fertilizer, and weed control?
Cut it weekly.
Why waste money or DIY time by cutting it as low as possible to save a week of mowing?
But, to be fair, there are other mowing frequencies that make up that other 10 percent in our area.
In the spring, and around September, rain along with the perfect grass growth temperatures will cause the grass to grow superfast. In this case, you should seriously think about mowing every 5 days.
Why?
I hate to sound repetitive, but the main reason is so you can adhere to the 1/3 rule while keeping mowing height intact. I also think the grass will benefit long-term from the extra feedings of grass clippings this time of year.
Sometimes we can have one of those summers that bring extreme heat and no rain for weeks or even a whole month. While this will have little effect on those who water their yards up to the preferred 2 inches per week, the truth is that 67% don't water the grass at all.
And what happens as a result?
Brown, crispy, burnt grass that goes dormant. Under these circumstances, back off the weekly schedule and begin to mow bi-weekly. Once the grass begins to green up go back to weekly mowing.
If the grass is truly not growing even when switching to a bi-weekly schedule, just wait. The mower weight going across the lawn could cause more hurt than good. It's also best to keep everyone off the lawn... even the mailman if possible.
In Summary
The healthiest lawns will need mowing every week from early spring to late fall. And every 5 days is expected at the time during the rainy parts of spring and fall. If your grass is not growing fast enough for weekly mowing, your grass needs a health checkup to determine what is causing the grass to grow at a slower-than-expected rate. Maybe it could be improper mowing heights, and if that's the case, simply adjust.
I look forward to driving around Euclid and seeing the greenest of lawns because all who read this will now know and be able to begin mowing at the right frequency.
