# How often do you mow?



## Retromower (Jan 28, 2021)

So, for a long time I was a once a week mower. Lately, Ive been watching a lot of Youtube videos on lawn care and learning a lot about seeding, fert and proper mowing practices.
This has led me to mowing my grass high. It seems like all of these Youtube lawn pros preach about letting your cool season grass grow taller. So, Ive set my mower as high as it will go: 3.5".
Ive also been watching a lot of, "Lawn Care Nut" videos where he preaches to mow your lawn twice a week. Ive started doing that this year and while its only April 1st, Ive been doing that for a couple weeks and it does seem like its making my yard grow thicker and fuller.
Thoughts?


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

Height and frequency of cut are related, and so my situation may be different from yours (based on grass type), but I agree that more frequent mowing is important for a thicker and fuller lawn. In fact, it may be the single most important thing that improves lawns. For my Bermuda lawn, frequent and low cutting improves lateral growth, but it also provides another benefit that is often overlooked: it hides many weeds and therefore improves appearance.

Last year was my first in a new development in which all houses had new sod. I border four different yards, and I mowed mine the most frequently. My lawn became more dense than the others.


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## jeffjunstrom (Aug 12, 2019)

I'd be curious to see what portion of a thicker, fuller lawn is due to high frequency cutting, and what portion is due to HOC. I certainly don't mind cutting twice (or more) a week, if needed. But I much prefer a lower cut. Has anyone done a trial on this, scientific or otherwise?


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Easy comparison. KBG/PRG golf fairways are mowed every 2-3 days at heights around 1/2". The rough gets mowed 1x week. Which one is denser, fuller?

Assuming the mower is sharp, frequent cuts removing less leaf results in much happier grass. The advice to mow tall is for two reasons, less maintenance with great color, and genetic preference of some grass types.

This forum is full of warm season lawns that are reel-mowed at heights under 1" every 2-3 days. I hear there are even cool-season owners that are crazy enough to try it.

Cutting more frequently will encourage denser growth, just not as much as dropping the height. Assuming your grass will tolerate it.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

There is a study around this. I think it was Bill Kreuser at UNL. At least he discussed it in a podcast with Frank Rossi. I think they looked at how often and how much to remove. I don't recall all the details. What I recall is that too often can be bad (daily) since you are constantly providing a wound. I think the summary was, the 1/3 guideline was the best. If your hoc is 3in, then cut whenever it gets to 4in. I tend to mow twice a week. At least I plan for it so in case there is a rain or a sick kid or something, i know I still have another chance. I am one of the crazy one reel mowing a cool season at 3/4in, so I mow when it gets to 1in.


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

I read through Kreuser's summary of his findings, but I didn't see anything about the disadvantages of daily mowing. In contrast, I read an article from Texas A&M which mentions daily mowing on golf course fairways would improve the look. He mentioned that greens are sometimes mowed twice daily. I assume some advantages/disadvantages of varying frequencies might be contingent on the type of grass we're talking about.
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/mowing.html


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## Retromower (Jan 28, 2021)

g-man said:


> There is a study around this. I think it was Bill Kreuser at UNL. At least he discussed it in a podcast with Frank Rossi. I think they looked at how often and how much to remove. I don't recall all the details. What I recall is that too often can be bad (daily) since you are constantly providing a wound. I think the summary was, the 1/3 guideline was the best. If your hoc is 3in, then cut whenever it gets to 4in. I tend to mow twice a week. At least I plan for it so in case there is a rain or a sick kid or something, i know I still have another chance. I am one of the crazy one reel mowing a cool season at 3/4in, so I mow when it gets to 1in.


I was the same at our old place. I would reel mow cool season grass (sun and shade mix) to about 1". It worked great on our front lawn that got full sun but it didnt work well in our back yard that was more shaded.
Now that Im trying to grow taller grass at our new place, I had to bench the reel mower in favor of a rotary (because my reel mower would only mow as high as 1.5").
Last year, when we first moved into our new place, I was actually mowing it at about 2.5" and the grass was OK but it was kind of thin. Since Ive started mowing it at 3.5" and mowing twice a week, it seems like the grass has really taken off and thickened up. Its only April too and we arent even really in the growing season yet. I'll be intersted to see how it does and how much it can choke the weeds off by July or August.


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## Retromower (Jan 28, 2021)

jeffjunstrom said:


> I'd be curious to see what portion of a thicker, fuller lawn is due to high frequency cutting, and what portion is due to HOC. I certainly don't mind cutting twice (or more) a week, if needed. But I much prefer a lower cut. Has anyone done a trial on this, scientific or otherwise?


Im certainly no agronomist but IMO HOC has to do with the grass having more leaf length and being able to take advantage more of the sunlight that it gets. If you have a 1" leaf vs a 3" leaf, the grass is much more able to take advantage of photosynthasis. Also, they say that the longer the grass is, the deeper the roots it will grow, so it will be more able to weather droughts and be able to outcompete weeds.
As for fequency, every time you cut the grass, you put it through a certain amount of stress. The more leaf you cut off, the more stress it goes through. If you constantly are cutting off 1/2 the leaf, the plant will devote more energy towards growing the leaf back and less energy in growing deeper roots and making itself stronger.
Believe me, I used to be the guy who wanted his lawn to look like a fairway on a golf course. Before I moved to Ohio, I owned a house in Wisconsin and had a Craftsman riding mower. I would literally set the deck as low as possible with it scalping and I felt like even if it scalps a little bit, eventually it will wear the ground low enough to where it wont scalp. LOL Theres a part of me that cringes looking at my grass being so tall but I keep telling myself that what I used to believe about growing a lawn is wrong and what Im doing now is better.


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## dsc123 (Mar 22, 2020)

Phids said:


> I read through Kreuser's summary of his findings, but I didn't see anything about the disadvantages of daily mowing. In contrast, I read an article from Texas A&M which mentions daily mowing on golf course fairways would improve the look. He mentioned that greens are sometimes mowed twice daily. I assume some advantages/disadvantages of varying frequencies might be contingent on the type of grass we're talking about.
> https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/mowing.html


Interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

I run an automower and its helpful to confirm that daily mowing and random patterns are beneficial to the turf.


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## Bean4Me (May 13, 2020)

Total noob here but here is my experience. 
Up until last year i mowed once every ~5 days and followed the keep it high to shade the roots mentality. I kept it anywhere from 3" in the spring to 4" in the summer heat then back down to 3" in the fall. This was barely sustainable with the mowing frequency. I have irrigation and also followed the scott's fertilizer program. I think I really needed to mow every 3 or 4 days because usually the mow was a struggle, thick grass, lumps n clumps if mulching, clogged bag if bagging, really slow mow and alot of overlap if i wanted good results. It was doable but I didn't enjoy it. My neighbors are all once a week and have extensive clumping brown off from cutting way too much off.

Last year I fell into the reel low hole. So I've been working on getting my lawn to go low. I began cutting every 2-3 days, dropping the hoc every month or so. Now with more inputs, fert, biostimulants, dethatch, etc. I touched 1" in fall but I couldn't keep up with the work so I ended the season at 1.5". I also started applying PGR. Without PGR I think I'd have to mow every 1-2 days to keep the mow manageable. I'm planning on increasing my PGR app this year because even at 3 days it does get challenging at the shorter hoc.


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## Biggylawns (Jul 8, 2019)

Last year I kept kbg/prg less than .5 in and mowed every 2 days on average. I also used pgr too. I doubt I would have kept to this hoc/cutting frequency if I had to go into the office.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Warm season lawn here, kept around .5-.65 all year. Use PGR, and maybe cut twice a week. Couple needed mows due to fert applications, lots of rain, and a few charity mows.

It bout PGR? Probably every 2 days.


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## White94RX (Jan 23, 2021)

Cutting KBG at 1", every third at the moment.


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## xMystic (Sep 22, 2021)

Well, for the best-looking yard year-round, it's advised that you cut about once a week. The longer you wait in between each mow, the more weeds and overgrowth will appear. Try to always make sure your blade is sharp, so as not to damage your grass. Cutting it often will also result in thicker grass that makes it harder for weeds to grow....

more info https://www.shoalshelpnow.com/post/how-often-should-i-mow-my-lawn


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Daily if I am home. Even on PGR I mow daily. Therapy.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Retromower said:


> Im certainly no agronomist but IMO HOC has to do with the grass having more leaf length and being able to take advantage more of the sunlight that it gets. If you have a 1" leaf vs a 3" leaf, the grass is much more able to take advantage of photosynthasis. Also, they say that the longer the grass is, the deeper the roots it will grow, so it will be more able to weather droughts and be able to outcompete weeds.


I can only share my experience with reel mowed turf. While I do believe there is turth in what is said above, I have experienced all the same benefits of longer turf on my old lawn that was cut at 0.75".

I had zero weed pressure, no problems with drought in the Summer, and my roots where 8"+.

Now, I used a pre-emergent, fed the lawn regularly and irrigated properly throughout the Summer. So all of my inputs went a long way to aid in the development of my lawn.

To answer the original question, I try to mow my new lawn (38k) twice a week. My old lawn was only 2,500 sf. and I tried to mow 3 times a week.

Let's also be careful about calling the Youtubers "pros." While some may have a background/career in lawn care, many of them are DIYers who like lawn care and aren't afraid to get in front of a camera.

HOC is a personal choice. You can have a great looking lawn at 3.5" or 0.5".


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Harts said:


> I can only share my experience with reel mowed turf. While I do believe there is turth in what is said above, I have experienced all the same benefits of longer turf on my old lawn that was cut at 0.75".
> 
> I had zero weed pressure, no problems with drought in the Summer, and my roots where 8"+.
> 
> ....


It has a bunch to do with the plant species/genetics as well. I have seen creeping bent putting greens with 8"+ roots and they are cut at 0.120"-0.145".


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## Mr Lawn (Mar 24, 2021)

Whenever the time calls for it. :bandit:


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