# Mowing common Bermuda 2" or higher?



## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

I'm curious if we have anyone mowing their common Bermuda at 2" or higher?


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## ram82 (Dec 19, 2018)

Past year I started around 1 or 1 1/4.finished at 2.25.Dont think I scalped midseason either.When my clippings were visible on the lawn I just raised it up.Believe I was putting 1.3 lbs n a month and 20lbs organic in higher heat months.Mower was a super recycler


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## Helv2040 (Jan 23, 2020)

I have been; however, that because I do not yet have the level lawn I need to cut shorter. Plus I do not have the right equipment yet. I am just starting out and taking baby steps.


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## Dangerlawn (Sep 13, 2018)

I mow my neighbor's common Bermuda lawn for them at about 2.5 to 3 inches. It looks good enough and seems to work well. I like to keep mine a lot shorter but Bermuda can definitely thrive and look good with a higher cut.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Mow mine at 3.5 that's because I'm looking for st Augustine to win and take over most if not all of the yard.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

SWB said:


> I'm curious if we have anyone mowing their common Bermuda at 2" or higher?


I've been mowing mine at 2.25" to 3.25" for the last 2 summers. It will look very nice at these heights. However under the canopy it is very thin. You see this during the spring scalp. It will be very soft under foot at 2"+. It will stripe nicely with just a rotary mower at this height as well. However you absolutely have to alternate your cuts as the wheels will mash down the grass and leave lines if you don't. But you can have a very nice looking common bermuda lawn at 2+".


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

I remember @Ware posted a picture a while back when his lawn was around 2 inches at some point in time...and it looked very good!


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. I did a complete renovation on my two acres back in '09. I mowed between 2"-3" and it was really a nice looking lawn. A few years after the reno I had a different type of Bermuda start to creep in. It didn't grow more than an inch or so tall and when the seed heads came it was too low for the mower to cut. This stuff eventually overtook most of the common Bermuda I had planted. 
Fast forward to this May and I'll be doing another complete reno. I prefer mowing higher with a rotary but I'm wondering if that will somehow give the undesirable Bermuda another chance to establish itself again.
Thoughts?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I agree, you can have a nice looking bermuda lawn at a higher HOC if you're doing everything else right. :thumbsup:


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Sand and level as often as possible along with sharp blades will go a long way with higher HOC Bermuda in my opinion.


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## Cory (Aug 23, 2017)

My father in-law and nephew running around my back yard last year around 3"-3.5". Don't have any other pictures of it that tall but it looked pretty nice. Definitely thin underneath though like @TN Hawkeye stated.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

ENC_Lawn said:


> Sand and level as often as possible along with sharp blades will go a long way with higher HOC Bermuda in my opinion.


I would think the sand and level would be far more important at a lower cut. I've never done any leveling to my lawn and I can't see any different where my mower rides up and down. Yes there may be a slight difference in the height of the grass but the color is the same. I would guess there is much bigger difference between .75" and 1.25" bermuda vs 2.25" and 2.75" bermuda. They are both .5" different but the shorter cut will show more in color and texture.


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

Cory said:


> My father in-law and nephew running around my back yard last year around 3"-3.5". Don't have any other pictures of it that tall but it looked pretty nice. Definitely thin underneath though like @TN Hawkeye stated.


Very nice!


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

TN Hawkeye said:


> ENC_Lawn said:
> 
> 
> > Sand and level as often as possible along with sharp blades will go a long way with higher HOC Bermuda in my opinion.
> ...


Yes...I would say your are correct.

However I think there are benefits to treating your lawn "leveling" as if you were going to cut it at .5 HOC even if you use a rotary.

Benefits in my experience are:

If you have a bumpy lawn and do not cut slow sanding and leveling will help with a rotary cut.

If you cut with with a large deck 40+ inches with a rotary sanding seems to help scalping with a rotary as well.

Also sanding is something that is cheap and easy to do that will pay off in the long run assuming the average TLF member plans to go low or lower as some point in time.

For example the first season I joined this forum my lawn was a mixture of grasses. I sanded my front lawn a couple of times and it was pretty level. I did not do this with my back lawn at all.

Then after my renovation on the days when I didn't want to cut with my reel mower...all of the sanding on my front lawn allowed me to cut with a Rotary at 1 inch HOC with a 48 inch deck without much scalping.

My backyard Which has not been sanded as much I can't cut as low with the rotary without showing more scalping.

YMMV....it just seemed to help my rotary cut with a larger mower.

Page 7 of my journal shows more comparison pictures...but here are a few.



Front Lawn Rotary Cut



Front lawn Reel Cut at .75 HOC


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Cory I have come to the conclusion your lawn looks awesome regardless of the HOC. 

Back lawn looks on point!!! :thumbup:


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