Mid-morning (between 8 and 10 a.m.) tends to be the best time of day for mowing your lawn. It allows enough time for dew to dry, resulting in strong, perky blades of grades, while avoiding the hottest periods of the day.
Mid-Morning (8 AM - 10 AM)
Grass needs the benefit of the day to dry and heal before dusk settles. Since mowing your grass in the early morning can damage it and mowing it during the early afternoon can burn it because of all the high temperatures, the ideal time is mid-morning.
The rule that helps us figure that out is called the one-third rule, which means never remove more than one-third of the leaf tissue at any one time that you're mowing. So, if you're mowing Kentucky bluegrass at two inches high, for example, you don't want to let it grow any higher than three inches before you mow it.
Mowing early in the morning means you beat the heat and your lawn has more than enough time to recover before night falls again. However, your lawn is usually dewy during the early morning hours. Your mower might have a difficult time mowing.
6 To 8 A.M.
For your neighbors, lawn, and mower, before 8 a.m. is probably not the most preferred time for lawn mowing.
Cut your grass before a storm starts to make cleanup easier. If the storm has already started, wait until after the rain stops to mow the lawn. Ensure the grass and ground are dry before you get started. You should be able to walk across your lawn without wetting your shoes.
The mowing 1/3 rule, also referred to as the golden rule of mowing, instructs you to never cut more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time. This rule is necessary because if you remove more than 1/3 of your grass blades while mowing, it could potentially kill your grass and allow weeds to grow too easily.
The calculation of the 150 rule during the summer months is quite simple. Add the air temperature and the humidity together. If the total is at or above 150, the lawn is considered to be in the danger zone. Close to but under 150 is considered the caution area.
Regular mowing encourages grass to develop broader and deeper roots, contributing to a healthy and resilient lawn. But when your grass goes too long without a trim, it becomes weak and may grow unevenly. The grass blades may also turn yellow or brown.
However, be mindful that mowing too close to nightfall (between 6 and 8 p.m.) will not give your grass enough time to recover, making your lawn more susceptible to fungus and turf disease. It's recommended to avoid cutting your grass in the early morning and midday.
The goal of No Mow May is to pause mowing during the month of May, allowing flowers to bloom in your lawn to help early season pollinators. Late winter and early spring is a time when floral resources are often limited.
If you mow in the evening, mowing after 6 pm on weekdays may disturb neighbors who are winding down for the day. Lawn care after 9 pm on weekends might also frustrate those who can hear your mower. The goal is to avoid dinner or bedtime hours.
It's best to water your lawn after mowing only if it aligns with your regular irrigation schedule or when your grass is showing signs of underwatering. Look for signs of dehydration such as: Yellowing or browning leaves. Dry, crispy, or wilting grass blades.
Mowing actually helps make your grass grow thicker because the tip of each blade contains hormones that suppress horizontal growth.
Circling is an easy pattern to execute. After mowing the edges, continue making circular passes around the edge. Each pass will be shorter until you read the center of the lawn. You won't have to make any sharp turns necessary in some other patterns and you don't have to be careful about mowing in a straight line.
The 1/3 rule makes the most sense for relatively high cut turf found in golf course roughs, sports fields and home lawns. Applying the rule, you should never let a rough maintained at 2 inches grow higher than 3 inches before mowing.
The 15 yard rule applies to throw-ins. The rule is very simple – all receiving players must start at least 15 yards away from the throw-in taker. This opens space around the throw-in taker for players to make movements to receive the throw.
There is the idea of “too much of a good thing,” and that definitely applies when it comes to fertilizing your lawn! Applying too much fertilizer to your lawn will cause the nitrogen and salt levels in the soil to increase rapidly, which can damage or even kill the grass.
How to Charge for Lawn Mowing: Pricing Tips and Pricing Chart for Lawn Care Pros. Most lawn care professionals charge between $50 and $250 to mow a lawn, or $30 to $65 per hour.
You Mow Your Grass Too Short
Short grass also makes it easier for weeds to move in and take over. Instead of mowing the lawn super short, keep your lawn mower blade high and mow frequently. As a rule of thumb, you should never remove more than one-third of a blade of grass in a single mowing.
For the healthiest and most sustainable approach, 3.5 to 4 inches is most desirable. Lawns mowed at 3.5 or 4 inches out-compete weeds, tolerate grubs and look just as good as lawns mowed at 2.5 inches.
We often get the call from some of our customers wondering why we are mowing grass in the rain. The answer is pretty simple: “BECAUSE WE HAVE TO”, not necessarily because we want to. Mowing grass in the rain takes substantially more time and creates a dangerous environment for our staff to work.
Any time before 8 am is too early—on a weekday. On weekends, not before 9 am. That's my personal preference, which has nothing to do with local village ordinances. That's because many people use lawn care services where the workers not only mow the grass but run very loud leaf blowers.
Risking heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion or heat stroke suggests you should not. When is it too hot to mow? Temperatures over 85°F mark the threshold. To maintain the health of your lawn and yourself, mow during cooler parts of the day, such as early morning or late evening.