# How High is Too High to Mow?



## Lawn Ranger (Jul 16, 2017)

I have to apologize. I thought people here were mentally ill when they said they enjoyed mowing, but I've used my garden tractor twice now, and I love it.

Maybe I'm crazy, too.

It must be the riding aspect. Nothing sucks like pushing a mower.

I have a new property with a lot of pasture. There is a little pasture by the house, which I plan to use as an extension of the yard, and there is a bigger pasture which I am hoping to use to grow hay. It's my understanding that I should be able to find someone to make round bales in exchange for a share of the proceeds from selling them.

Anyway, I need to keep a road (ruts in the grass, really) clear in the big pasture, and I decided to knock the grass in the small pasture down to keep it from getting too high for the mower. I wasn't trying to make it pretty. It was over a foot high in places, and I didn't want it to get out of hand. I used the garden tractor for both jobs.

Here is my question: how high is too high for my mower? I have a John Deere 430 with a 60" deck. I want to know how high the grass has to be before I give up and use the bush hog.

Also, how do I get under this thing to check the blades? The previous owner had some sort of ramps.


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

"If you mow your lawn . . . And find a car. . . It's too high."


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

I mow at 4.5 in the locked position. Mowing frequencys can cause thatch problems so you should try mowing every 4 days unless it's growing slower


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## Lawn Ranger (Jul 16, 2017)

Four days? Seriously?


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

A visual for reference:


dfw_pilot said:


> Almost time to string trim.
> 
> _Almost._


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## Stegs (Aug 29, 2017)

mowing height depends on the lawn. Some lawns of course prefer to be cut on the low side, maybe a inch or less

Some lawns prefer to be cut heigher, maybe closer to 4"

You want the grass to be as long as possible, but still able to maintain a quality cut atleast 1 time a week.

Here in michigan, i mow my lawns in the spring at 3 or 3.25. About middle or end of may, i raise my deck and start cutting at 3.75. This is my sweet spot. The grass still cuts nice, and its long enough to handle the heat, weeds, drought etc.
I will mow here until the end of August (right now)

Right now im doing most of my cutting at 3.5 inches for fall, and i will have it down to 3 or 3.25 by middle october. At that point its plenty low for leaf cleanup.

Your lawn will vary. I would suggest mowing as high as you can while still getting a quality cut. At some point you will notice the grass is too long for your mower deck to "stand the grass blades up" Now you know your limit. Try to stay 1/4 inch below that and you will be good (4" is where my lawns dont cut nice, so i mow at 3.75 all summer long here)


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