Try to explain to them cutting at a particular height will bring out the best in the turf . Usually 3-3.5 inches for cool season grasses.
Sometimes people ask this because they think you won't have to cut it as often if it's kept shorter. But sometimes it's just a preference.
Do you think it will look bad because it will dry out faster, scalp the turf or??

 

Try to explain to them cutting at a particular height will bring out the best in the turf . Usually 3-3.5 inches for cool season grasses.
Sometimes people ask this because they think you won't have to cut it as often if it's kept shorter. But sometimes it's just a preference.
Do you think it will look bad because it will dry out faster, scalp the turf or??

Ok that is exactly what I have said.

Well it had been very dry here until just the last several days.

If I cut it shorter it will look bad, brown and possibly scalped in some areas in the front... the Back must be pushed mowed because of the fence.

I think it's more about the frequency of Mowing for the customer. I mean she even gets it treated so why treat it then cut it short?!?

 

Our general policy is 2.5 at the beginning and end of season and 3 when it's hot. All our lawns are irrigated though. We have a few resi clients that want 2.5 year round and the grass does tolerate it.

 

This lawn has no irrigation but is treated. Was pretty dormant looking over the last few months (I wasn't Mowing till just recently)

If I mowed it at 2.5" it would not look good imo.

She even made the comment one time that the person that mowed it last year used a zero turn and tore up the grass... but now she wants it mowed low and it won't look good like that either lol

 

When I was younger and more desperate I would do what the customer told me. In turn I did destroy many a lawn cutting short and then they burn out. Then because the lawns were burned out I lost money as I had to skip.
No matter how much you told the customer the negatives if you cut real short and it causes damage to the lawn, you are at fault. You are the one being paid.
Now when I am asked to mow shorter I will listen to them and then tell them why lawns are cut shorter. Be informative, not preachy. If they still insist on shorter then I feel is correct, they can hire someone else.

When I walk away from the customers lawn, I need to be proud of my work. If other residents of the area see me cutting it then it burns out while the rest of the street is still green, I can guarantee they don't hire me when they need a lawn guy.

 

That's exactly my thought. If this height issue continues I'll have to just be firm and say I don't want my work to show a burned out and bad looking property done by me and if that is what she wants then maybe I'm not the right person to be doing her yard.

I take pride in what I do and how I do it. Not only because it looks good but because it's what is best for the lawn.

 

I agree with you, if I serviced a lawn without irrigation I'd never cut it lower than 3 and would probably be at 3.5 through the summer.

Have you explained to her that the grass stores it's water in the blades?

 

I have one customer that I let dictate lawn height and that's because he likes it longer. I raised my cutting height this year and most customers noticed a difference in the appearance in their lawns. My leading line is, "You don't have golf course grass, why cut it as short as one?" Then I explain the benefits of proper mowing height. So far, I haven't lost one yet because they want it shorter.

 

Very cool. Glad the clients are on board.

 

Honestly don't be afraid to loose customers over this. For all the people who have talked to me, and I have refused to go shorter for, only 1 has decided to get another lawn person. Unfortunetly it was my moms friend, and she stopped talking to my mom after she fired me.

 

She wasn't a true friend and it's good your mom learned this sooner rather than later.

 

We don't entertain requests for mowing lower. We mow at the height that is healthiest for that species. Lower spells imminent death and then you'll be blamed for that. Customer is not always right.

 

I get those requests too when St Augustine is being maintained. At 4+ inches it is a low maintenance, soft and lush grass. Someone then gets referred to how St Augustine typically looks in my state. Scalped, prickly, and brown. I get the opposite when maintaining Bermuda, Centipede, Seashore Paspalum, or Zoysia. High is not good for those grasses. If someone wants those mowed high, they want the same kind of maintenance person mowing St Augustine at 2", because their mowers only mow at the same height.

 

Well I guess we will see what happens. If I lose her oh well. I don’t want the headache and a yard that I do that looks bad. I mean that is why I redid my yard this fall is because I wanted a nice cenlooking yard to show customers but possibly cause harm or issues wit someone else’s yard

 

I keep a folder in my truck with some 8x10 glossy photos of some of my top notch lawns, taken when they look their absolute best.
I have, on occasion, pulled them out when I get that "could it be shorter" conversation.
It's worked more than once.
I'm not arrogant about it, and the pics usually speak for themselves, without me trying to go into great detail about the benefits of a higher cut.
(I can also show them a pic of my place as well, cut at the same height for many years!)
BTW, I'm down here in OH in the opposite corner from you, awayne.

 

if you lived in the south you would hear all kinds of stuff. i've had some that wanted me to mow it short so the lawn "would die and not grow so much."

some would rather have it short and brown rather than tall and green. they just don't get it....and they wonder why their yard is full of weeds? :laugh:

back when i first started i was mowing at 1.5"-2" but now i've kindof slowly got everyone to be ok with 2 1/4 - 2.5". i have a couple i go up to 3" during the summer. you can only do that on nice weed free yards. any yard full of weeds has to be mowed at 2 1/4" or it looks shaggy after a couple of days. on the nicer yards you can mow 2.5-3" and it doesn't look shaggy.

 

Opposite problem here, I've got folks I'm begging to let me cut their Bermuda/zoysia shorter than 4".

 

so I'm just wondering how you handle when a customer says "can you mow my grass lower"?

I mow most at 3" with some as high as 3.75" depending on the time of year. A couple at 2.75".

But one that I cut recently at 2.75" is requesting it to be lower which IMO will make it look bad. 2.75 is the lowest I would suggest for it to be mowed because of it looks bad it's my name on that property!

So what do you do?

Your BMPs are spot on and your client thinks otherwise-the proverbial rock and a hard place to be. I sure you have already spoken to him but stand your ground AFTER offering a compromise-you will cut it at 2 inches for one month-if it looks bad you will return to the previous height. See if they will compromise.

 

What does their lawn look like at that height? Bermuda and Zoysia are fairway and green grasses. Unless it is Bermuda being grown for hay and forage.

It may take those folks seeing a Bermuda or Zoysia lawn mowed at 1/2" with a sharp, well adjusted reel up close to change their mind. I do not maintain Bermuda or Zoysia above 1".

 

What does their lawn look like at that height? Bermuda and Zoysia are fairway and green grasses. Unless it is Bermuda being grown for hay and forage.

Zoysia looks okay, but it lays over on itself the second it gets wet. And tons of fungus incidence.

Bermuda is thick stringy mess at that height. Taking it down to 1.5 or 2 will leave a brown , patchy mess. It will recover but it's best not to get to that point

Yeah, I'm leaving it be for now, but taking them down over the winter. I'm trying to draft a mass email about how healthy it is to start with shorter grass in the spring. Prior to my hire, it's been very much just do whatever the customer asks for, and I'm trying to make it more do what looks best/is more sustainable. I know I won't change everyone's opinion, but maybe I can educate the overall customer base.

 

Bermuda is thick stringy mess at that height. Taking it down to 1.5 or 2 will leave a brown , patchy mess. It will recover but it's best not to get to that point-

 

There are regional / seasonal differences, a organic , mulched, irrigated cool season lawn does fine at shorter cut heights. I'm cutting at 2 3/8 right now. This time of year it will look better, be denser and also look much nicer imo. Roots stay warmer in spring fall with shorter cut heights. More than one way to skin a cat.

 

Trying to mow warm season grasses at less than 21/2" with a rotary will cause a lot of damage. A vacuum is created under the mower deck that pulls and then cuts off the runners. Cutting off the runners like that will make a thin lawn prone to invasion by weeds unless it is on a heavy preemergent program. I can tell you that a Bermuda or Zoysia lawn mowed at less than an inch with a reel does not look scalped unless it is the first time it is being mowed low.

 

I like 2.5-3" on my BG/Z lawns.

We had soooo much pythium and large patch this fall, even active mycelium in bermuda.

 

Not surprised at that height. For me, low heights of cut serve as a disease control measure and growth regulation. A lawn can survive at a high height of cut, but that is a lawn not on irrigation and growing in a dry part of the island.

 

this year has been a lot of rainfall so it was better to mow shorter this year. last year was a drought so it was better to mow taller. not every year is the same.

 

I cut at basically the same height you do, in general. I tell them that I will cut it any way they want but... shorter = more weeds, prone to burning, etc. I say when they manage the cut length I can no longer be responsible for how it looks. I follow that up with - so I will cut it however you want but in a month from now when you ask me why it looks bad I will remind you of the conversation we are having right now. I love to say 'I told you so' (I don't say that last part though).

 

Well we will see what she says when I go there in a few days.

We have been dry dry dry but now... we have gotten rain yesterday, tomorrow and supposed to be on Thursday too! Smh

I’m going to be busy catching up after all this weather!