chopping down ornamental grasses to half height?

[sailinstud420]

Is there any reason I cannot/shouldn't cut some ornamental grasses down to half of their height right now? They grasses are located in islands within the sidewalk of a strip mall. When it rains the grasses all flop over and lay all over the sidewalk (run off from the roof lands on them) I want to cut them down to about half their height, for the rest of the season? Is there any plant health reasons not too? I live in MI btw.

[AGLA]

Because it will look like hell until spring.

[paponte]

I agree that it will not look too well, but safety comes first. As far as plant health it would not damage them. :)

[olderthandirt]

Use a white Zip tie about 1' from the bottom to hold them together and then cut them off, just try and shape them a little rather than flat topping them. When winter time comes, chinch the zip tie down and cut them off. Makes clean up easy.

[AL Inc]

Good idea, OTD. Sailin, you may want to plan on dividing those grasses next spring, they may keep their shape a bit better if they weren't so big. And you can use the extras elsewhere on the property, or take them to your house:)

[prizeprop]

We trim them when we trim shrubs during the summer months when there getting to large, never had a problem. Just have one guy wrap the top up and cut a third off, they flop open to look good. When trimming for the winter wrap them with duck tape and cut off at bottom.

[sailinstud420]

I usually use a rope, tie a loop in one end, feed the line through, and cinch it down, chop, and release. Makes cleanup easy. These things are huge. I think I will cut them in 4ths when the time comes!!

[gardenkeeper88]

First of all in my opinion It sounds like it is the wrong plant in the wrong place. Show the customer what is happening. BTW what grass is it. If it is miscanthus try to recommend a Dw. pennisetum. If it is a pennisetum then maybe a helictotrichon or fescue. Cutting them halfway will slow or stop the flowering depending on when you cut them. They will also most likly bleed like lawn grass cut w/ dull blades, resulting in dead area at cut.