how high do i mow

[foo569]

right now i am currently mowing my lawns at about 3 inches and i am being told by several people that i am cutting my lawns too high. i am not sure on what to do .

[trimmer]

What kind of grass are you mowing? I cut mainly St. Augustine and cut 2.5-3.5 inches. People down here like it cut high right now because of the drought that we are experencing. Your height sounds about right to me.

[Eric ELM]

I mow the shortest at 2.5" and up to 3.5 right now. Let them know the benifits of mowing longer in the summer. It helps hold moisture and the longer you cut the grass, the deeper the roots grow. Cutting below 3" for most grass in heat is not good. Educate the customer.

[ChadsLawn]

trimmer i mow all ST.Augestein at 4.5 or 5 inches..never shorter.Im near Tampa.

[lawnboy82]

your in jersey? keep it at 3" that is the ideal height around here.

[Mike (MLC)]

I always mow at 3". If you go any lower especially during the dry season, the grass will die. It also may make it look like it has been scalped. You want the grass nice and lush so you can walk on it. Cutting it too short makes the ground feel like concrete.

[Fantasy Lawns]

I'd say a good rule of thumb is ....no more than 1/3 of total length :->

[joshua]

spring and fall i keep mine at 3" and summer at 3.5 to help keep it shaded and like eric elm said for the roots, and as the others said so that it doesn't get burned out. mostly kentucy blue here.

[Scag48]

I'm mowing mine anywhere from 2.5 to 3 inches. I'm on setting "D" on my Toro and I haven't measured the exact height. I feel that if I jack it up to the highest setting, it looks too long. Anybody know off hand about how high setting "D" is on a Toro 21"? Thanks.

[KirbysLawn]

I've been mowing at 4", 2 weeks ago due to the lack of rain I have started mowing the fescue at 4.5", they are the only one's that still look decent. :(

[Atlantic Lawn]

Here on the coast of N/E North Carolina we seem to cut mainly sand these days . Almost all of our cuts are done at 2.5 inches not much fescue in the area and Bermuda is what we are cutting now. If we cut any higher it doesn't run the way it should, cut it low and it spreads like wildfire.

[HOMER]

If it looks like a good crew cut then you've done your job well. If you try to cut it lower you'll take too much material off and risk burning the grass. You can't listen to too many people close to ya, listen to the ones across the country, we won't steer you wrong!

[Davis TLC]

Some customers think you have to scalp the lawn to make it look good. I have been able to educate the vast majority of my customers on the benefits of keeping it taller. Most of my lawns are cut at 3", I have one that is kept at 4" year round. When it gets hot and dry I move the 3's up. I had one customer that insisted on getting hes cut at 2" all the time, it was the worst looking lawn in the neighborhood, I got rid of her the next season. I'm still cutting grass when most guys here are idle during the dry spells since I cut mine higher than they do, but some are starting to catch on to what I'm doing. Lawns here are fescue.

[cutntrim]

Nobody cuts taller than 2.5-3.0" here, nobody. The vast majority (90%+) cut at 2.0". Why? Because that's what the customer wants. Maybe years ago only a couple LCO's were cutting shorter and some homeowners thought, "Hey, I like that. More cut for my buck." Who knows?

I can talk 'till I'm blue in the face about the benefits of a taller cut and I'll never get through to a lot of the homeowners around here. Tall = shaggy, and unkempt in their minds. Period.

Last year we tried to hang tough at 3.0" but had to bail half way through the season. Two reasons; 1) Way too much rain and the grass was knee high each week we came back to cut. 2) Customers complained incessantly about the way the grass "laid over on itself" because it wasn't cut short enough. "Hell, you guys cut my place on Wednesday and by Friday it looks awful! Like it hasn't seen a mower in a month!"

You know what? In a lot of cases the customers were right. The longer length looks like crap on many lawns last year. So this year we're cutting currently at 2.25" and will only raise it up when and if, a dry spell comes along. We were dry for the month of April but the past 10 days have been pretty wet, and there's more rain on the way. So I'd say that while in general the taller the better, you should give the customer what they want. We're in the service industry and if the customer doesn't feel they're getting the level of service that they want...they'll just spend their money elsewhere.

[grassyfras]

i kinda have to agree with cutntrim most people dont listen and the grass grows alot quicker but i usaasly cut three inches i dont know what ill do this summer its my first year with a comerical mower

[crew]

I would say as long its not adversly affecting the rest of your life,mow as high as you can without endangering yourself and others.:cool:

[TGCummings]

A little advice needed along these lines:

I have a newly planted lawn (about 2 months old) I cut for a new customer that I've been cutting at 4.5" because growth is so quick and I don't want to take off more than 1/3 of the blade. However, it came due for it's first fertilization and my drop spreader is touching the top of the blades, something I've read shouldn't be happening. Now, I've got conflicting "rules of lawn care". One rule says never take off more than 1/3, the other saying the lawn needs to be lower than the bottom of the drop spreader after cutting. Do I disregard the 1/3 rule in this case and give the lawn a good 4" or even 3.5" cut? Or do I disregard the "bottom of the spreader" rule in favor of the newer lawn needing it's vigorous growth?

What would you do?

-TGC

[eggy]

Most of my lawns are cut at 3 to 3.5 inches year round. Here a lot of people try to cut shorter in the spring and try to raise the height in the summer without realizing it takes about four weeks for the root to catch up with the leaf blade causing more stress to grass that is already stressed from drought conditions and heat. Mow at a certain height year round and keep it there. ;)

[lawnboy11]

It depends on how high you can get!

[jeffyr]

I'm in NJ too--also at 3 + inches depending on the lawn.