Mowing Overview
How often and what is included...
Weekly mowing service includes the following: Mowing, string trimming around houses, fences, and trees. Also clean up afterward. Even tall yards will looked bagged with our premium mulching system. Weekly mowing is recommended for nearly every lawn. Cutting off more than 1/3 of the grass can negatively affect your lawn and is hard on equipment used. The average lawn needs just 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. Please finish irrigation cycles 2 days before scheduled mowings. Bi-weekly mowing becomes available during extreme heat and extended dry times in lawns without irrigation. Even then, it is recommended to keep with a weekly schedule to prevent your lawn from premature dormancy. A dormant lawn will still require some water but doesn't always result in complete die off. A large amount of water is needed to get lawns growing again after a dormant period and is generally not recommended.
Before we mow:
- Watering should be completed 48 hours before scheduled mowing. Most lawns need just 1-1.5 inch of water a week for desired growth. Too much water can cause unnecessary runoff and will enhance conditions for disease and stress. Excess water costs more on your bill as well, so providing the proper amount will save you money. Please watch for sprinkler heads that may not retract into the ground. Marking a problem sprinkler head with a flag or even a stick may prove helpful to yourself, repair personnel, and our employees.
- Pet waste should be cleaned up. Customers with large amounts of waste will be charged extra for excessive waste. Waste can get on mowers, which makes handling them unsafe. String trimmers can toss waste around and get on undesired areas as well as our employees.
- Toys, tools, hoses, and other lawn accessories should be out of the way. Items in the yard can be tough to see in grass. Although we train employees to avoid such items, keeping your lawn free of these will save them from being accidentally damaged.
Important mowing guidelines
Mowing height
Our default height is 3.5 inches. Some companies mow at 3 inches or lower. Gray and Grandpa mows at 3.5 inches or higher. Why? Simply put, the higher the better. Plants have 3 broad tissue types; tips of the grass, the crown, and the root system. Picture a tree. It has branches of leaves, a trunk, and roots. Grass has similar qualities but the branches of leaves are blades of grass. Instead of a trunk, grass has what is called a crown. And roots are roots. When grass is mowed to low it can damage the crown of the grass much like cutting the trunk of a tree, causing unnecessary damage. Trimming a tree is done to remove dead or unwanted branches and cutting the trunk is not recommended by professionals. The crown or trunk of grass is more difficult to notice. Grass which is mowed taller will have a larger boundary layer surrounding them, reducing the chance of damaging the crown. Mowing taller also reduces evapotranspiration which conserves soil moisture and keeps the turf cooler for longer periods of time. This is especially important during hot summer months. Taller grass also has a larger photosynthetic region which is the area responsible for feeding the plant using the suns energy, water, and carbon dioxide from the air. Finally, tall grass has longer roots. Longer roots can access more water from deeper beneath the soil resulting in less need for costly irrigation. Height is best changed in spring to help grass grow in thicker and more evenly before summer heat.
Mulching Vs. Bagging
Grass clippings are around 90% water and the remaining percent is plant nutrients such as NPK (fertilizer) which people pay to have applied to their lawn. If a lawn is bagged you are directly taking water and nutrients away from your lawn. Mulching is done because it mimics natural systems more closely. The return of the clippings sequesters carbon into the soil. When carbon is added to soil it improves the chemical, biological and physical properties much like fertilizer applications. Such properties increase the vigor of the grass grown in the soil and reduce runoff. This increases water holding capacity and promotes natural nutrient cycling from the soil microbes. So bagging Vs. mulch? Mulching wins, by a long shot!
Watering tips
An application of
1-1.5 inches of rain or irrigation a week is enough to keep cool season turf grass (fescue and bluegrass) healthy throughout the season. Over irrigation of turf grass can be much worse than a lack of water and significantly increases the chance of disease. Also, recent tests prove that watering while the sun is high and grass is hot can actually make your grass warmer than before you watered. If you notice heat stress from lack of water it is best to increase your water application in the morning, before the sun gets too high. Furthermore, it is best to avoid watering at night as it can promote the growth of mold and diseases. Calibrate your irrigation system using rain gauges or small plastic containers with vertical sides in every irrigation zone of your lawn. If your lawns receives more than 1 inch of natural rain in a week your irrigation system does NOT need to be on at all for the week. All watering should be done 48 hours before any scheduled work on the lawn and turf. Watering before we arrive to work can cause unwanted dips or ruts due to equipment use on wet soil. It can also directly effect the price of your service. The reason for this is mowing a wet lawn is harder on equipment and employees. A dry yard keeps blades sharper and it's obvious that no one likes a wet shoe!