How Often Should You Mow the Lawn?

April 30, 2022

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The Turfgrass Group

The grass certainly looks a lot better once it’s been mowed. But did you also know it’s much healthier when it’s mowed regularly? Mowing the lawn infrequently can make your lawn look sloppy and lead to overgrown grass, but mowing the lawn too frequently can also do damage. So how often should you mow the lawn? There are three key factors that will help you determine how often you should cut the grass:

1. The Kind of Grass

What type of grass do you have? There are about a dozen different kinds of grass including:

  • Bent – narrow, flat blades with a soft, dense texture
  • Bermuda – sharp, pointed blades with a dense texture
  • Dichondra – round leaves with a dense texture
  • Fine Fescue – hair-like fine-tipped blades with a soft texture
  • Kentucky Bluegrass – V-shaped, pointed blades with a soft texture
  • Ryegrass – Pointed blade with visible veins and a soft texture
  • St. Augustinegrass/Floratam – broad blade with rounded tip and a spongy texture
  • Tall Fescue – pointed blade with visible veins and a stiff texture
  • Zoysia – narrow, needle-like blades with a stiff, carpet-like texture
  • Bluegrass/Rye/Fescue – thin, tall blades with a dense texture

If you have warm-season grass, you’ll want to mow it in the summer. If you have cool-season grass, you’ll want to mow it in the springtime and early fall. 

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2. Grass Height

Before you mow, check the height of your grass. You don’t want to cut it too short or mow too frequently. A good rule is to only cut the top third of the grass. You want to treat every lawn individually and avoid cutting the grass by a “required schedule.” Every lawn is different.

3. Rate of Grass Growth

Basically, how often you should cut your grass will depend largely on how quickly your grass grows. In general, during the summer, most homeowners will mow their grass every one to two weeks. This works for most types of grass. 

Every type of grass has an ideal height, however. You want to mow the lawn during growing season. And you want to make sure you are mowing enough to keep your grass healthy. 

Zeon Zoysia

Zeon Zoysia is a great choice for many homeowners because it is shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and fine bladed. It is suggested to keep the mowing height for Zeon Zoysia between ½” and 1½”. Zeon is only available from certified growers. To learn more about that, have a look at this blog post.

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