Cutting the Lawn So Easy a Caveman could do it!

When a friend of mine was Married one of his wife's friends told her to cut the lawn short so it was well trimmed and to bag the clippings so every time he got his hands on the Mower it went up to 2.5 inches and he mulched. When she would do it down it went and $7.00 a bag to haul away clippings. He always had one of the best lawns on the block. Six years after a messy break up a messy Lawn . After visiting 27,000 each year I have come up with the some truths about people and their lawns.




Today I will reveal to you the single biggest way homeowners are wrecking their lawns without realizing it… …and it is completely free and preventable.

Proper Mowing is the Key
That's right, if you are not cutting your lawn properly, you will NEVER achieve thick, green
turf
despite your best efforts. You can spend hundreds of dollars on fertilizing, aerating, seeding and watering, but if you don't utilize ALL of the following tips, you'll have nothing but a yellow, thin, scalped patch of dirt and weeds.

Mowing Height

There are a number of resources out there that tell you how high to mow your grass depending on the seed types contained in your lawn. If you have bluegrass, it's between 2.5 and 3″ or if you have fine fescue, it's 3″ or more, etc. Please note that most landscapers cut at between 1.5 to 2 inches so the can cut it each week so put these heights in your contract or it will never get done. But do any of you really know what's in your lawn? What if you have varied grass types depending on shade content from the front to back yard? Are you gonna adjust your mowing height in the midst of the cutting process? Of course not!
So here's some easy advice that is goof-proof: set your mower wheels to the one notch from -highest setting and forget about it. If you do this, you'll be just fine and your grass will not suffer from scalping.
Scalping occurs when you take off more than 1/3 of the grass blade in one cutting. This causes the less-course "underbelly" of the grass blade to be exposed to direct sunlight and dries it out.
In addition, if you cut the lawn too low overall, you are exposing the root system to direct sunlight and it will dry out and shrivel or go dormant. Grass plants need that blade to produce food through photosynthesis, so don't take that away.
I tell customers to think in terms of themselves: If I lose a fingernail, I will be just fine and it will grow back; but if I cut off my entire arm, I will be in some serious trouble.

Mowing Frequency
Not only is mowing height important, so is the consistency of the cutting. Remember, we do not want to remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade in any single mowing. If you let the lawn grow tall for 3 weeks and then cut it, you will be removing massive amounts of the grass blade no matter how high you have your mower set.
The minimum requirement for most lawns is weekly cutting. Anything less than this and you are in danger of harming your turf. If you do happen to miss a week because of vacation, I recommend raising the wheels up to the highest position for the cut, and then a couple days later, mow again at the normal setting illustrated above.
Another problem associated with letting the lawn grow too tall prior to cutting is the clumping of the discharged grass. Even if you have a good mulching blade and powerful mower, long grass will clump if left uncut. These clumps smother areas of the lawn and kill it, leaving thin spots for weeds to invade the next year.
Grass clumps also cause a thatch buildup
that will ruin your lawn in time as well.
If you can't mow your lawn consistently, I advise hiring a service to do it, or maybe you should consider moving to a condo. You owe it to your turf to keep it nicely groomed!

Mower Blade Sharpening
A dull mower blade will rip the grass blades. Those ripped tips turn almost white and will give your lawn an overall brownish appearance. Imagine having your hair cut with a dull razor blade … not a pretty site!
I tell homeowners to have their mower blade sharpened at the beginning of each season. If your lawn is big (over an acre) you may consider having the blade(s) sharpened again in July just to be safe.
If you don't want to sharpen your own mower blade, you can take it (or the whole mower) to any lawn mower maintenance shop and they will do it for under $10. They also can do a quick run over your mower and check the oil and filters for a few additional dollars.

Mulch or Catch the Clippings?
This one is as debatable as Ford vs Chevy but I will give you some sound advice anyway.
If you are going to mulch the clippings (let them grind under the mower deck and fall back into the lawn) you will need to first verify that you have an actual mulching blade installed on your mower. Don't try to convert your bag-only mower into a mulcher by removing the bag and cutting … this will cause clumping. If you're not sure about the blade, either consult your mower shop or go buy a new one labeled for mulching and install it new.
In addition, I have seen so-called mulching mowers that don't have the horsepower to properly mulch the clippings. If you are going to mulch, your mower should be a minimum 5 HP but 5.5 or 6 would be better. You need to have that blade turning fast in order to properly mulch the clippings to tiny bits.
Mulching is good for the lawn as it recycles the nutrients back to the soil. If you are using a properly-powered mulching mower with a sharp blade, you will be fine.
A common myth is that mulching mowers contribute to thatch buildup. Once again, the right mower makes all the difference here.

Mowing Direction
Finally, you should mow your lawn in different directions each week so it does not lay down one particular way. If you mow the exact same direction every week, your grass will be trained to lay one way (much like training your hair to lay over) and this will cause issues.