Don't mow during the hottest part of the day So, to keep your lawn green and healthy when it can't get a reprieve from the sun, you want to avoid mowing during the middle of the day when the sun is the most intense. At high noon—and a few hours afterward—your grass is working hard to protect its water supply.
However, the time to rethink mowing cool-season lawns is when heat and dry weather slow growth – or better yet, when the forecast says that a hot, dry spell is on the way. Better to go into a heatwave with the grass already shading the ground than just after you've cut it.
High temperatures can stress grass, leading to browning and weakened roots. If the temperature exceeds 85°F, avoid mowing to prevent these issues. Grass becomes more susceptible to moisture loss and decreased photosynthesis, impacting its overall health. Your safety is also at risk when mowing in extreme heat.
Mowing at the peak of day, when temperatures are highest, stresses both the lawn and the mower. If you wait until the early evening, the lawn is usually dry (unless it has rained during the day), the sun is not as intense, and the lawn will have ample time to recover before the next afternoon's heat arrives.
Cool-season grasses often continue to grow into late October and November. While you might not need to mow as frequently, it is important to keep an eye on your lawns growing patterns and ensure it's mowed as needed before the winter. Your last cut of the year should fall about a week before the first frost.
A good cutting height for the last mow of the fall for low-mowed grasses is 2 to 2.5 inches, while tall-mowed grasses are best kept at 3 to 4 inches during winter.
As a rule of thumb, stop watering your lawn by the third week of November. In frost-prone regions, you may need to stop watering earlier. In warm areas, you may need to water into early December.
Good news, cutting the grass less may be better for the environment. Trimming the number of times you run the mower around the yard, known as “low mow”, can help reduce carbon emissions, build soil organic matter and even enhance pollinating habitats for bees.
Is it okay to cut grass with morning dew? No, it is not okay to cut grass with morning dew.
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.
If you mow your lawn when it's extremely hot and dry, the grass will lose treasured moisture, exacerbating drought stress. It can cause your grass to thin or may kill it off. Compared to taller grass, shorter turf can't shade the soil as well, and more soil moisture will evaporate.
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.
Injury to warm-season turfgrasses often occurs when temperatures drop below 20°F (-6.7°C). In general, major winter injury to turfgrass is caused by the following: 1) tissue desiccation, 2) direct low temperature kill, 3) diseases, and 4) traffic effects.
Late Afternoon (4 PM - 6 PM)
It's also early enough to give your lawn enough time to recover before late evening. You see lawns are most susceptible to fungal infection attacks after dark, so don't cut your grass after 6 PM under any circumstances as that will weaken it even further.
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.
Your lawn care company should use a fertilizer that's formulated for summer feeding. Properly applied, summer lawn fertilizer helps your lawn withstand the heat and drought conditions of summer. Experts recommend fertilizing cool season grasses in the spring and the fall, and warm season grasses in the midsummer.
If you're busting out the lawn mower once dusk sets in – or worse, when nightfall occurs – then it should be a last resort. Generally, anytime after 6 p.m. is too late to be cutting your grass.
Before mowing a lawn after a rain, inspect the grass closely to see if any blades are bent over. Once they are upright it's probably safe to mow. Wet grass tends to cut less cleanly, resulting in larger clippings. These wet clippings like to clump together and block up the mower's deck.
Mid-morning
By 10am, your lawn has had sufficient time to dry, and (weather depending) the problems associated with mowing wet grass are no longer a risk. Coupled with the fact that the grass has sufficient time to recover from cutting, mowing mid-morning is the best time to do so.
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.
It often depends on what your lawn is like. If you have a well maintained lawn that is regularly mowed quite low, there are benefits in edging first. This will create a line for the mower to follow and finish along while ensuring the height of the grass is even.
Unkempt lawns, with tall grass and weeds, risk steep fines, lawsuits, a lien on the house, and even foreclosure. There are other reasons why you want to mow overly tall turf. Nasty pests and fungal diseases, a fire hazard, and a decrease in property value are just a few to mention.
It is ideal to water lawns about one inch of water per week. To determine how long you need to water to get one inch, place a plastic container in your yard and set a timer. On average, it will take 30 minutes to get a half inch of water. So, 20 minutes, three times per week will give a lawn about an inch of water.
The answer is “before temperatures generally dip below freezing at night.” The biggest problem that can strike an irrigation system in the winter is water leftover in the pipes and valves from the summer freezing.
If it's dry and hasn't rained for a few weeks, keep watering trees as they need it until the ground begins to freeze, which usually happens in late October or November if you experience a true winter. Or if you're in a southern climate, the soil may not begin to freeze until December (or at all).