Once your grass has come out of its dormant state, you may be wondering when you should start cutting it again. Generally speaking, if it is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it is still considered to be too cold to mow your lawn. The ideal temperatures to mow are between 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
In general, once the air temperature consistently stays below 60 degrees around warm-season grasses and 50 degrees around cool-season grasses, then it's good to consider putting away that mower.
If you must mow your lawn after a frost, the best practices are to ensure that your lawn does not have a lot of moisture from snow or ice and make sure to not mow the lawn when the temperatures are below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
In fact, some cool-season grasses will go dormant during the hot summer months until early fall. During a heat wave—a period of abnormally hot weather that lasts longer than 2 days—it's recommended that you do not mow your lawn.
Generally, the cutoff point comes when temperatures drop below 50°F during the day. Usually, that's late October or early November, but some warm areas may push that date back to the beginning of December.
Cut your lawn to possibly the shortest height you have all season. The ideal height is around 2 1/2 inches. Cut it too low and the grass might not be long enough to photosynthesize and provide nutrients to the roots. Too high and the frost might become matted after a snowfall.
Developing a strong root system creates a healthier plant. By late October, reduce the mowing height gradually during the last several mowings to about 2 inches. Shorter grass prevents matting and the formation of snow mold the following spring.” Shorter height sometimes discourages vole activity, although not always.
Once temperatures reach 77 degrees, it becomes too hot for root growth, and root growth ceases. When temperatures reach 90 degrees, it becomes too hot for shoot growth and the grasses stop growing and begin to fall dormant, with the surface grass turning a brown hue.
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.
Mowing a lawn in the middle of a summer heatwave is one of the worst things you can do to it. When temperatures reach around 85 degrees, grass, like many other green plants, begins to suffer – especially cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine fescues.
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. That is of course if you're free during that time of day.
No Mow May was first popularized by Plantlife, an organization based in the United Kingdom, but is now gaining traction across North America. 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.
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, 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.
A mowing height between 2.5 to 3 inches is best for most of the season, except during summer stresses when the lawn mowing height should be raised one-half inch to mow at 3 to 3.5 inches. Raising the mowing height provides more insulation from summer heat and reduces water loss from your soil.
'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.
Cutting wet grass can damage the base of your lawn.
Mowers are heavy machines and are not designed for use on soft, muddy ground. The wheels (and even your shoes) can compact saturated soil or even cause ruts to form, damaging roots and hindering the growth of healthy grass in the future.
Generally speaking, if it is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it is still considered to be too cold to mow your lawn. The ideal temperatures to mow are between 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is mowing before or after rain better? It is always better to mow before rain if possible. If your grass is dry, but you see rain on the way, it is a good idea to mow the yard before the rain arrives. Otherwise, the next best time to mow is when your grass has completely dried after rainfall.
Warm-season grasses grow best in summer temperatures between 80 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit,1 so if you want a thick, healthy lawn, you'll need to plant the right type of warm-season grass for your climate.
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.
When mowing your lawn for the final time of the year, a general rule of thumb is to lower the blades by half an inch. So, if your lawn care pro normally mows your lawn to a height of 2.5 inches, they should mow it to 2 inches during the final mow.
Turf grass always looks better when the temperatures drop, and the rain and nitrogen rises proportionately. By late June and July heat and stress have set in. And, heat is the #1 stress related factor in how your grass looks. It's not water, as most believe, but heat.
Areas where grass blades were cut too short will usually recover slowly, but the brown patches may be evidence that you cut into the crown (growing point) of some grass plants and killed them. If the dead patches are no more than a few inches in diameter, grass regrowth may fill in the bare spots.