Do you know that cutting your grass to an ideal height enhances your lawn’s overall health? But What is the Best Height to Cut Grass in Summer? Read here!
Why do you cut the grass of your lawn, after a week or two? To make it look well-manicured and tied up! Well, you might be surprised to know but mowing your garden’s grass to the ideal heights also contributes to the garden’s overall health.
Yes! There’s actually a thing like ideal grass cutting height which ensures that your grass won’t only grow healthily in future but also develop more resilience in it, against weeds, pests, heat, and drought (especially in summer during which such sorts of risks are quite dominant). You cut your grass too short, it will be exposed to root-burning heat. You cut your grass too long, it will begin to act as a perfect habitat for pests and pathogens.
Thus, forget the myth which states that cutting your grass too small will save you from the hassle of cutting it more frequently. Instead, doing so will make you end up with an unpleasant and patchy lawn. Another thing that’s worth mentioning here is that different grass types come with a different ideal cutting height.
Sadly, there’s not a one-size-fits-all rule and you need to find out what type of grass you have in your garden and what are its needs to finally conclude something about its ideal mowing height. And if you don’t know about the exact type of grass you have, figuring out whether the turf is cool-season or warm-season, would help.
Table of Contents
What is the Best Height to Cut warm-season grass in Summer?
The most common warm-season grass types include Bermuda, St. Augustine, zoysia, centipede, Bahia, Buffalo, and Kikuyu grass. Due to being warm-seasoned, all these grass types grow exponentially to attain their highest length as soon as the summer hits.
Thus, in summer, you need to mow them down more frequently but remember, you should never cut them too short otherwise their roots will get exposed to the heatwaves directly which, in turn, will ruin the entire root system. Generally, the best height for these warm-season grass types are as follows
Besides this, the ideal cutting heights not only vary from one class to another but also vary from one type to another type of the same class of grass. For example, Zenith zoysia needs to be mowed down to 1.5 inches whereas the ideal cutting height for empire zoysia is 0.75-3 inches.
If speaking generally, then for the summer season, cutting heights of 2.5-3 inches are ideal. However, if you live in an extremely hot region of the world and your lawn may suffer from heat stress, you should maintain the length to at least 3.5 inches. In this way, the extra mowing heights will not only retain more water into the soil to keep the roots moist but also provide insulation against heat.
Also, avoid mowing your grass during the extremely hot days of summer since at this time, your grass already faces heat stress and if you mow it down, it won’t be able to get healed which, in turn, make it damaged and look brown. The best time to cut the grass is right after irrigating or a rainfall – when the turf is relaxed and the temperature is optimum.
You can also save your grass from additional stress by setting your mower to the highest position and keeping its blades sharp. Higher the mower, taller will be the grass blades and taller the grass blades, stronger will be their root system. Also, try to reduce foot traffic during summer.
What is the Best Height to Cut Cool-Season Grass in Summer?
Most common cool-season turfgrass types include Kentucky bluegrass, fescues, tall fescue, and perennial ryegrass. Due to being cool seasoned, these grass types do not grow significantly during summer and grow mostly during winter and spring. Generally, the best mowing heights for these cool-season grass types are as follows
In spring, you can cut almost all types of cool-season grasses to a height of three or more than three inches. However, in summers, you must maintain a height of about 3.5 inches (in the case of tall fescue, mow it at four inches) so it could better tolerate the heat stress.
On cutting cool-season grass relatively taller in summers, the root system will be shaded which will keep the entire root zone cooler. Similarly, the higher cutting heights enhance deeper root growth and provide more foliage to produce food.
On the other hand, in winter and fall, you need to cut these grass types to a very small length – not below 2.5 inches. If you mow the grass below 2.5 inches, your grassroots will be exposed to damagingly frosting temperatures. In other words, you should always pull the mower out of your garage when the cool-season turf attains a height of about 3 or more than three inches.
Is mowing high beneficial for my garden?
Yes, mowing your grass relatively higher is beneficial for your garden in most cases as doing so will serve you in many ways such as follows
How to measure the height of grass?
Now since you have known the ideal cutting heights for both warm-season and cool-season grasses, the question which arises next is how to measure the height? Would you walk around the whole yard with a scale or measuring tape to measure the length of the grass blades? That would be insane for sure.
Fortunately, there’s an easier way to do so! All you need to do is to mark a line of the desired length on the tire of your lawnmower and set the mower to that height. Once set, you’ll be ready to push your machine over your garden to mow it down, evenly and on the ideal heights.
Other lawn mowing tips
Besides cutting your lawn grass to the ideal length, here are some other tips that would ensure the greenest and healthiest turf on your lawn.
One-third ruleDon’t overlook the one-third rule according to which, you should never cut your grass more than its one-third length, at a time. Doing so will make your grass suffer from higher mowing stress which, in turn, might turn it brown.
Proper mowing scheduleSet a proper mowing schedule based on the environmental conditions and your grass type. The growth rate of turf depends upon various factors like season, fertilisation, watering conditions, etc. You need to maintain a balance between under-mowing and over-mowing.
Sharpen mower’s bladesWhen you cut the grass using a dull blade mower, it results in turf discolouration. Also, dull blades rip the grass blades instead of slicing them out which, in turn, make the turf more susceptible to pests and pathogens. Thus, to ensure the best results, sharpen your mower blades before every use.
Avoid cutting wet grassDon’t mow the yard when the grass is wet, either by rainfall or dewing. Doing so will not only deteriorate your machine’s quality and performance but also rip the grass blades rather than slicing them.
Now in mid-morningRemember that the best time to cut the grass is mid-morning. If you mow the yard in the early morning, you’ll end up risking your device service life and if you cut the grass in mid-afternoon, your turf will suffer from intense heat stresses.
Conclusion
By now, we have acknowledged the answer to the question: What is the Best Height to Cut Grass in Summer? It is not straightforward or can’t be given in a single sentence. But still, we’ve drawn some conclusions based on this entire discussion so you could make a well-informed decision.
Both the cool season and warm season grass types come with specific mowing needs and you can’t cut down different types of grass to the same length.
In summer, you better keep the turf relatively longer to prevent it from heat stress and drought-like conditions.
In spring and autumn, you should mow down only one-third part of the grass blades which will stimulate healthier growth and also keep the pathogens away.
During winters, don’t cut the grass too long as it will act as the perfect growth medium for mould and fungus. At the same time, don’t cut the grass too short as it will expose the root system to frost.
During summer, it’s better to let the grass attain a taller height, regardless of whether you have warm-seasoned or cold seasoned grass on your lawn.