How to measure mowing/trimming height??

[americanlawn]

I was taught (hort college) to use a flat object to measure average mowing heights-- a notebook, a 12 inch 2x4 piece of wood, etc.......then get down on my hands & knees with a ruler at a horizontal angle to measure exactly what the average mowing height of recent grass blades ended up to be after the lawn was mowed/trimmed. Keep in mind that this does NOT include "high spots" in the lawn where lawns are scalped.

Kentucky bluegrass should be mowed at 3 - 3 1/2 inches during summer according to my land-grant university (ISU). Prob is .... most homeowners mow at 2 1/2 or less. Sometimes at 1 1/2 inches at best.


Then they blame us because they have drought damage, spurge & crabgrass, sod webworms, etc. We measure their mowing/trimming height---------if it's short, we leave them a land-grant university fact sheet regarding low mowing/summer burnout/crabgrass.

Anybody else have ****** customers who butcher their lawn - then blame you?

p.s. I mow my own lawn (2 acres) at 3 inches or higher. Never treat for crabgrass, and I never have any crabgrass or dead areas. :dizzy:

[carcrz]

If they edge, you can measure at the concrete w/ a flat ruler or similar object & a tape measure.

[mattfromNY]

Funny you should bring this up. I just came in from sharpening blades/ servicing mowers, and was thinking about a few of my lawns that we mow 3-3.5 inches, and neighbors on both sides mow very low. Once in a while I get a customer who asks us to mow lower, but I refuse. This summer it paid off, b/c when it was so dry, our lawns were still pretty green, while the neighbors' lawns were all brown (Nobody around here has irrigation) and full of crab and other various things. Some of my lawns that dont get fertilizer looked pretty bad, but still held green longer than lawns on the same street that got butchered (I dont fertilize, just mow, Not certified yet, taking the test this winter).

[ALarsh]

Yup. Have some ******ed customers that insist we mow at 2.75" on kentucky bluegrass. :laugh: I try to educate them and when they don't listen I just say okie dokie to get em to shut up. We cut all other lawns at 4".