How Often Should Grass Be Cut? (2024)

FAQs

How Often Should Grass Be Cut? ›

Your grass should be cut often enough so that not more than one-third of the grass blade is removed at any one time. Mowing your lawn once a week during the growing season will go a long way toward achieving this.

Normally, weekly mowing is the rule, but some lawns need cutting more often. Other lawns will grow more slowly and might need cutting only once every ten days or two weeks. Generally, don't cut off more than one third of the grass blade. More than that may harm the grass.

Mowing too often, especially if you remove the grass clippings, runs the risk of depleting nutrients and can increase the build-up of thatch – that spongy layer that can cause issue with the health of the lawn.

Remove no more than 1/3 of the leaf tissue when you mow. Mowing too short or scalping results in stress to the grass plant. Weak grass plants will take longer to recover.

Even if you're performing weekly mowing, if you're cutting the grass too short, it could still turn yellow from stress. When you mow too short, you also invite weeds into your lawn. Opportunistic weeds are much more likely to invade weakened lawns, than dense and thriving ones.

There is no set number of times per week that you should mow. All in all, ideal mowing frequency will depend on the needs of your lawn and will fluctuate according to seasons, depending on wether you are in Chesterfield, Tulsa, Kansas City, Wichita, or Springfield, MO.

Consistent mowing helps keep our lawns healthy and thick. Recycling grass clippings provides a nutrient-rich natural mulch that protects grass from high temperatures and dry weather. In general, a weekly mow is still the operating principle.

Mow every two weeks - mowing less allows for spontaneous lawn flowers, like clover and dandelions, that provide important nectar for bees, which are in decline and perform vital ecosystem services such as the pollination of food crops.

The best time to mow the lawn is late afternoon or early evening. During this time, the day's heat has passed, but there's still enough light to see what you're doing. Mowing at this time allows the grass to heal before nightfall, reducing the risk of disease and fungal infections.

What is the 1/3 rule in mowing? ›

To maintain good healthy grass, you need to mow it at the right height, and the right frequency. The rule that helps us figure that out is called the one-third rule, which means never remove more than one-third of the leaf tissue at any one time that you're mowing.

Generally, yes. Mowing frequently is the key to a healthy lawn because each cut encourages the grass to grow thicker, creating a luscious, dense lawn. You can also block out weeds and make your turf more resilient, which is essential for a long-term, strong lawn.

Mowing Cadence for Summer

Don't wait longer than a week to mow your warm-season lawn during the summer. It's best to mow every 4–6 days, with more frequent mowing required when accompanied by heavy rainfall or fertilizer.

In other words, leaving more than a third of the leaf at any time the grass is mown during the growing season allows the roots to continue to grow. If the roots keep growing, the plant will remain healthy and perform better than under the stresses placed on it by harder mowing and slower root-growth.

But If you were to just stop mowing altogether, your lawn would look unkept and grasses and wildflowers will begin to colonize the space, Quindoy says. Wildflowers sound dreamy, but the bad news here: You won't have any control over which species take up residence.

There are practical, financial and legal consequences if you don't mow your lawn as required by local ordinances or homeowners' association covenants. You could be fined. A lien could be placed on your property. In extreme cases, you could be foreclosed on or even go to jail.

As a general rule, grass clippings of an inch or less in length can be left on your lawn where they will filter down to the soil surface and decompose quickly. Remove longer clippings because they can shade or smother grass beneath causing lawn damage. Don't throw out bagged grass clippings as yard waste.

Some grasses spread quickly by sending out runners. Other types of grass don't spread as fast. Either way, cutting grass encourages it to put it's energy into roots and new shoots instead of height. This will help your grass to both spread and thicken.

It starts growing leaves faster so that it can replace the leaf you cut off or make up for being in the shade. This means the closer you mow the faster the grass grows! The grass plants future survival depends on it manufacturing food, which it can't do without an adequate amount of leaf.

The grass blade is the food producing part of the grass plant. This is where photosynthesis takes place and where the plant produces the necessary food for good root and shoot growth. The shorter it is, the less food that will be produced by the plant.