Every so often I hear first hand, or I see for myself first hand, lawn owners who undertake the mowing of their lawns at extremely low heights, and in this case they are doing so for a specific reason and belief. They believe that mowing their lawns very low will then directly result in the lawn requiring lawn mowing less often. This will be done for one of two reasons, either they want to mow their lawns less often - don’t we all, of they wish to stretch out lawn mowing frequencies as far as possible over the peak growing season for lawn - which is Summer for most lawns or Winter if the lawn is filled with a lot of weeds - in order to save money on lawn mowing costs.
So there is a specific reason behind this practice, with two possible motivating causes to save personal time and effort to save money.
Some people may believe that mowing a lawn shorter will slow down its growth rate so that it may not need as much lawn mowing, though honestly… this may just be an excuse which some people tell others to cover over the real reason for the infrequent lawn mowing, which real reason may just be to save a few dollars.
However for those familiar with lawns and lawn care, and for those who work with lawns in a professional manner over decades, we can see error in this practice, which also brings cause for concern for several reasons.
Problems With Very Low Lawn Mowing Heights
There is an optimum lawn mowing height for all lawns, and these heights will change dependent on lawn variety being grown, the health of the lawn, the available water to a lawn, and shade levels over the lawn. We can’t go into all these factors in this one single article, and this is not the purpose of this article. However we can say that most lawns in Australia are being cut too short, some exceedingly too short, others will grow better and maintain in better health should they be cut just one notch higher.
The main problem we face in mowing lawns too short is that the runners which are above the surface of the soil, which make up the lawn, and from whence all the green leaf of the lawn comes from, contain crowns. These crowns form the life of the lawn and enable the further green growth of the lawn. Remove these crowns and that particular area of lawn will die. The result may not be that any huge patch of turf dies off, but may be only small areas which may be barely noticeable. The results can be very minimal or more problematic.
So cutting a lawn way too short carries with it direct risk of severe lawn damage, either in smaller or larger areas impacted. That’s the immediate direct result of this practice.
It really is similar to if we went to prune our rose bushes each year, and then cut back the rose bush one inch from the ground. Would we really expect to continue to have healthy roses if we were to routinely undertake this pruning practice? Of course not, yet many of us do exactly the same with thing with our lawns, and yet expect green healthy lawns as a result.
Secondly, a very low cut lawn remains permanently exposed to risk of severe lawn damage in other areas too.
Hot summer days will dry out the topsoil and roots of the lawn very quickly, bringing the lawn into a very poor and damaged condition very quickly. If the lawn is being watered regularly and shallowly, then it is a possibility that the lawn may die in areas when this happens. Mowing the lawn higher ensures the risk of sun damage and soil evaporation is very low.
Lawns cut too short in the shade will suffer terribly, slowly continuing to thin out over time, perhaps dying out in areas, or with bare patches of soil emerging - which of course also allows weeds to flourish. Lawns in partial shade must have their leaf cut much higher than if the lawn were grown in full sun, this is because more green leaf material directly translates to greater photosynthesis. Because the lawn is being grown in partial shade it is already living under diminished photosynthesis, and as such we must keep the lawn leaf much longer to compensate for this factor.
Overall, any lawn which is cut way too short, risks exposing the soil in lawn mowing, removes too much thatch which is required to both grow the lawn itself and to shade the soil from evaporative moisture loss. This then in turn can lead to bare patches in lawns, which then directly leads to more weeds.
And finally, should a lawn being kept in this condition suffer from a lawn disease, which can occur instantly at any time, the end result can be the lawn gets wiped out very quickly, whereas it would have stood a better chance at survival and in conquering the lawn disease if it had been kept in optimum health, with a healthy thatch layer, and longer leaf material.
Will Mowing Very Short And Infrequently Save Money or Time?
Seriously, I’ve seen people nearly kill their lawns by following this practice, they just don’t see the problem with what they do, and they also don’t understand why their lawns continue to suffer any number of health issues so persistently. Yet it is they themselves who are causing these problems.
We can mow our lawns at whatever frequency we want to, no matter the season, no matter the lawn, no matter the location. It’s our lawn, and we can do as we please with it. Yet, we will have to make adjustments for this practice if we do, otherwise we will end up with serious lawn problems over time. And for those of us who wish to avoid those lawn problems, and who wish to maintain our lawns in good condition, then we need to make adjustments to accommodate such practices to ensure our lawns will not suffer adversely.
For example, if we had a healthy lawn, growing at normal rates in peak season, and we only mowed once every 6 weeks, then we’re going to have problems and will need to make adjustments. Cutting too short will most definitely brown off the lawn and make it unsightly, but may also pose the risk of removing the crowns from the lawn, and thus near killing the lawn also. Therefore we would need to cut the lawn higher if we were to mow at these frequencies. But in doing this we will also be increasing the thatch layer of the lawn, which is another problem in itself.
Another lawn may not grow as fast, and yet may be mowed every 3 weeks in peak growing season, compared to a normal 2 weekly cut. This is nowhere near as bad, and in itself can be easily managed by mowing the lawn a little HIGHER if the lawn is in partial shade, and possibly likewise full sun also. The only real problem we will face with such a lawn is that it will look a little unkempt for perhaps a week and a half. Otherwise, this frequency is okay if we’re okay with a slightly less than ideal lawn so often.
However, the problem arises here when the lawn owner doesn’t want to take into account that the lawn will not be looking its best for as long as it could because the lawn isn’t being mowed as often as it should in direct relation to its growth rates. And here is when we have an issue. The lawn owner may wrongly believe that cutting the lawn much lower will then ensure the lawn remains looking better in-between cuts at that same frequency. They don’t want to cut the lawn more often to save either time or money, and so they try to find a solution to their lawn not looking its best for so long in-between cuts, and so they try to opt for cutting the lawn lower.
And while a lawn can go for some time without major health issues when this practice is undertaken, be assured that over time the lawn will eventually and slowly worsen its health. It may slowly thin out, slowly develop more weeds, get sunburnt more often, go brown and dry out to bare soil in the Summer more frequently, and so on. Eventually over a longer period of time the lawn itself may barely be there at all anymore.
So let's wrap up.
Once again, we can mow our lawns as infrequently or as often as we like.
It’s our lawn, and our business alone.
Yes it will save time or money if we mow our lawns less often than is optimal.
But it will cause problems if we don’t mow in direct relation to lawn growth.
Some lawns may thatch up incredibly, creating greater problems.
While other lawns, if cut too short and too infrequently, can suffer from many directly related lawn health issues, including bare patches, weeds, the entire lawn thinning out, increased harm from a disease outbreak, browning off in Summer, sunburn or death on very hot days, and over the life of the lawn while these practices remain we can only ever expect our lawn health to continue to slowly deteriorate, until one day we may finally wonder just what happened to our once beautiful lawn, which is now just a lot of bare soil and weeds with a few strands of the original grass here and there.
As always, the best advice when it comes to lawn mowing, is to never mow the lawn too short, always err on the side of the longer leaf, and most of us should for the betterment of our lawns all take the lawn mowing height up at least one more notch.
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