It's best to wait for wet grass to dry before mowing. Wet grass clippings can clog your mower, causing it to choke and spit out clumps of wet grass that could smother and kill your lawn if left unraked. It's best to wait for wet grass to dry before mowing.
Check the soil: If the it looks muddy or feels soft, it's usually better to wait. Ideally, you should wait until the grass is dry enough so that you can walk through the lawn and not have wet shoes.
When dealing with mild morning dew or after light rain showers, you may only need to wait between 2 and 5 hours for the lawn to dry before mowing. With a heavier rainstorm, you should wait at least one day to mow safely. Shady areas of the lawn will take longer to dry than those in the sun.
If the grass is too wet, you shouldn't mow and if it's too dry you shouldn't either. Remember, mowing is a stressful event for your lawn. If you mow when it's already under stress, such as during dry spell or drought, then it will become even more stressed. You don't like to be stressed and neither does your poor lawn.
If your grass is so wet that you can't walk across it without your shoes getting damp, it's too wet to cut. You don't have to wait for your grass to dry completely before you mow it, but you'll want to make sure that your lawn isn't soaking wet.
If the engine and blades must work harder, more wear and tear will shorten the lifetime of your mower. Along with the harder engine work, if the wet grass isn't properly cleaned out from under the mower deck, the moisture will cause the blades and other metal to rust.
'As long as your blades are sharpened, and the grass isn't not soaking wet, mowing in the early morning dew is totally fine,' says Douglas Dedrick.
Mowing every two weeks — instead of weekly — and not dousing grass with chemical herbicides and fertilizers, helps the environment and supports the health of bees, which are among the world's most important pollinators.
However, most professional gardeners would agree that between 8 AM and 10 AM is the best time of day to cut your grass. The reason for that is that lawns need time to heal before evening. Grass needs the benefit of the day to dry and heal before dusk settles.
So, what's the best time of day to mow a lawn in hot weather? Plan to mow your lawn during the evening hours, after the heat of the day has passed. The temperature should be between 40°F and 80°F.
The short answer: No. Mowing wet grass can be problematic for your lawn, your lawn mower and you. If you do mow wet grass, you risk leaving clumps of clippings that could smother the grass beneath. Wet grass can clog the mower, causing it to overheat, and stick to the mower's underside, which is difficult to clean.
The resulting uneven look would be bad enough, but when you try to cut damp grass—the result is a tear rather than a clean cut. These tears open the door for fungus and moisture provides a medium for fungus to spread, so when you mow a lawn that's wet, you're creating a perfect storm for fungal infestations.
The simplest strategy you can try if there are parts of your yard that stay wet too long is to aerate your lawn. Aerating reduces compaction in the soil so that water can percolate through it faster.
Spongey Lawn: Another simple way to tell if your lawn is getting to much water is to give it a step test. Just step on the lawn in a few different areas. If the turf feels spongey or just plain squishy, you should probably dial it back a bit.
Dry It Out
It's impossible to work with mud, so before a water-damaged lawn can be repaired, the excess water needs to evaporate. If dry, sunny weather is in the forecast but puddles persist on the lawn, use a broom to sweep them away.
Mowing actually helps make your grass grow thicker because the tip of each blade contains hormones that suppress horizontal growth. When you cut the lawn, you remove these tips allowing the grass to spread and grow thicker near the roots.
For this reason, some people prefer to mow at 3 or 3.5 inches. For the healthiest and most sustainable approach, Michigan State University Extension says 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.
Frequency of Mowing
Typically, mowing once a week during the growing season should suffice to keep your lawn healthy.
60% of weeds in any lawn can be controlled with proper, weekly mowing. 60%!! You cannot rely on herbicide applications completely, weekly mowing HAS to be part of your plan to control weeds. So, let me reiterate…the presence of weeds in your lawn is NEVER a good reason to skip a mow.
You can take care of a brown lawn by limiting further stress on grass plants. Mow less often, or not at all, during a drought. If you do mow, set the mower height higher than normal at about 3 ½ inches.
Cool-season grasses should typically be cut to about 3 to 4 inches high. Warm-season grasses should typically be cut to about 2 to 2 ½ inches high. The common cool-season grasses include fine and tall fescue grass, Kentucky bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass.
Short answer: No. Whether it's early morning and the lawn is still dewy, a rainstorm just ended, or you just ran your sprinklers, you should skip the mow for now. This article will explain all the reasons why you shouldn't mow wet grass.
Cutting wet grass
If you own an electric lawnmower that uses a wire to draw its power then it's important to know that you should never mow your lawn when the grass is wet. When water is exposed to electricity, you run a serious risk of electrocution.