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Old 04-15-2014, 07:17 PM
 
Location: Oceania
8,610 posts, read 7,845,603 times
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I am in MD and have Zoysia. I fertilized last week and with the rains this week I will be cutting it this weekend after putting on new blades.

ATTN Sharp blades are important and you may need to sharpen them twice a season - I do with Zoysia.


I cut at least once a week whether it needs it or not in the rapid growing spring. It gets rather warm here in the summer and the grass goes somewhat dormant July-Aug so I don't touch it. I raise my mower deck to 4" year round as I don't bag - it's natural fertilizer. Guess what....you don't need to dethatch your lawn, ever. No one around here ever does and all grass looks fine. There is no sense in watering up here either as it does no good. When my next door neighbor moved in some years back he was out with a hose spraying his yard. I asked if he was from the midwest as that is what they do out there. Yep he is from Indiana. He quit spraying his lawn.
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Old 04-15-2014, 08:52 PM
 
Location: A coal patch in Pennsyltucky
10,251 posts, read 10,502,306 times
Reputation: 12547
Quote:
Originally Posted by irman View Post
I think this needs to be clarified for some people.

When the grass needs to be cut, then find out what the total height is of the grass (leaf-wise).
Then *only* cut 1/4 to 1/3 of that leaf height OFF the grass.
So ... , if you need to cut to a final shorter height, you have to do it twice, waiting at least a day for hte next cut.

Hence important that you cut, as soon as the grass is 1/3 longer than you like it to be (Approximately).
tehn cut about 1/4 off.

In my case I cut it to the highest setting the mower will go, during the growth period.
The area is used as a playground for the grand kids,
and a lush soft grassy field is about perfect for that.
Too short, and it does not feel good on little feet ...

Then a final cut to about 1 inch long (leaf length), right before the end of the season.
Thanks for the clarification. I see people who let their grass get high and then cut it as short as possible so they don't have to cut it as soon. This is bad for the grass since removal of larger amounts of the leaf surface will result in a shock to the plant, and cause excessive browning of the cut edge of the grass.

I don't usually cut my grass on the highest setting because my mower leaves random strands of grass. It seems like the high setting just blows some of the grass down without cutting it.
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Old 04-16-2014, 07:29 AM
 
Location: NJ
395 posts, read 596,364 times
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I'm in NJ, so I have no clue what type of grass we have here, but from May-July you can honestly cut the lawn twice a week. August is extremely dry and hot and that's when the grass begins to turn brown then die in places.
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Old 04-16-2014, 09:56 AM
 
6,596 posts, read 8,912,458 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101 View Post
Grass is a dense growing product,keeping it long (2in)in the spring rids your lawn of many types of weeds, they just dont have room to grow and basically get squeezed out by the density of the grass, once July and August roll around you can revert back to a lower cut or cutting more often, at least thats the way i do it.
Two inches is long? I don't even know if my mower can go that low. I basically just let my lawn go until I start to see some grass going to seed, then I'll mow it down to like 4 or 5 inches probably (never measured it).

Last edited by ferraris; 04-16-2014 at 10:06 AM..
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Old 04-16-2014, 09:58 AM
 
25,619 posts, read 36,509,148 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ambient View Post
You should mow it at heights sufficient to safely operate the lawn mower. I would say it's somewhere around at least 4 feet.
*rimshot* take my wife please.
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Old 04-16-2014, 10:21 AM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 16 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,996 posts, read 63,313,910 times
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We like ours to be nice and lush, and we expect to cut it every week in the spring and summer. We cut our centipede to about 2".
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Old 04-16-2014, 10:39 AM
 
35,309 posts, read 52,002,522 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ferraris View Post
Two inches is long? I don't even know if my mower can go that low. I basically just let my lawn go until I start to see some grass going to seed, then I'll mow it down to like 4 or 5 inches probably (never measured it).
a few variables involved, type of grass,type of mower, type of weeds you are dealing with.
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Old 04-16-2014, 01:16 PM
 
3,971 posts, read 4,001,645 times
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I think I've been cutting at 3 inches.
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Old 04-16-2014, 01:46 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,104 posts, read 80,174,082 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ferraris View Post
Two inches is long? I don't even know if my mower can go that low. I basically just let my lawn go until I start to see some grass going to seed, then I'll mow it down to like 4 or 5 inches probably (never measured it).
You should, for laughs, and report back. I can adjust my mowers low enough to actually hit the soil in places, at the lowest setting (1"). At 2" it's just about right to mulch the flowers off of any dandelions before they go to seed.
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Old 04-16-2014, 02:58 PM
 
16,825 posts, read 17,634,185 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cm5878 View Post
I've read different articles, where people saw to mow the lawn the shortest during March and April and the highest during the summer months. If true, how short or high must you cut the lawn?
High and often here. In the summer it gets really dry so short and it will scorch.

I keep it about 3 inches, but I have to mow once a week, at least.
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