last mow, low or high?

[workinallthetime]

i live in oklahoma and the 10 acres is mostly bermuda. Dad says leave it long, i say mow it normal which is pretty low.

any thoughts with the reasons to back it up?

 

[EagleTDL]

i live in oklahoma and the 10 acres is mostly bermuda. Dad says leave it long, i say mow it normal which is pretty low.

any thoughts with the reasons to back it up?

I'd go with Pop's suggestion... For various reasons, no one more important than any other.

1) "The longer the grass, the longer the root". This allows the grass to survive drier conditions. (This old rule of thumb really doesn't apply to bermuda, especially if it is in "field" conditions. It tends to "run" rather than "stand up" like your fescues. If you have bermuda in the lawn and it gets plenty of water and grows "up" instead of "out", then the above saying is applicable.)

2) If you let your grass grow higher, it will help keep out the weeds. Not only does it choke the weeds out, but it also keeps the stray weed seeds from being able to germinate by blocking them from the sun.

3) Longer will help it survive any compaction over the non-growing season (paths, walkways, etc). Those areas will brown-up quicker, but they will come back in the spring.

Nickel's worth...

 

[1955jd]

i mow mine the same all year, kind of on the med/low side...never seems to hurt a thing

 

[JCByrd24]

I've read last mow should be short, though I'm not disagreeing with Eagle, for the reasons mentioned I mow pretty long all year. But I've found over the years if I leave it too long in the fall it becomes a matted mess under the snow and doesn't come back as quick in the spring.

 

[EagleTDL]

But I've found over the years if I leave it too long in the fall it becomes a matted mess under the snow and doesn't come back as quick in the spring.

JC, you're correct... If you leave it long it will get matted under snow/heavy rains. But that "mat" will keep the weed seeds out and that's what, personally, I'm looking for.

I almost put in here what I do in the spring, but didn't... Guess I should have since you brought up the matting problem. Once it warms up a bit in the spring I'll scalp the grass about .5" above where I could really go with the mower deck. Generally have to mow it twice to get the clippings down to a small enough size where they will decompose. That will get all the frost-burnt tips off the grass stem and also put down a good layer of mulch to keep the weed seed out. Any areas that are still matted (not stood up by the suction of the blades as I go over it) I'll hand rake to get it to stand up. Cut that down too and then sit back and wait for it to green up.

That's also a good time to aerate (spike or plug, your choice), lime and over-seed after the aeration, if required. Again, an opinion, but I believe aeration and using a mulch kit on your mower deck are about the best things you can do for your lawn from a homeowner's perspective.

 

[Red Horse]

My two cents. Not sure if applicable to Oklahoma conditions, but I always mow "long" but for the last mow of the season I drop it down. I've always been of the school that leaving it long in the fall leaves you with a matted mess in the spring. As it is, keeping it short I still have a lot of "thatch" to pull up in the spring.

I never heard the theory that leaving it long-and matted keeps out the weed seeds. One other benefit to "short in the fall" is when the wind blows, the leaves keep moving!

 

[blueriver]

i live in oklahoma and the 10 acres is mostly bermuda. Dad says leave it long, i say mow it normal which is pretty low.

any thoughts with the reasons to back it up?

I would think cutting or grazing short is kinda the same ... the following is pasted from the Noble Foundation ...

The shorter that grasses are grazed, the shallower the root systems become. This inhibits the plants' ability to obtain water that is deeper in the soil profile. It also reduces their ability to act as a water filter when it does rain. Without this filtering effect, rainfall washes sediments (soil) into our ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. Finally, adequate stubble height on grasses can affect the microclimate underneath the forage canopy. The stubble helps insulate the plants from the extreme heat that lack of moisture creates.

Myself I try to go into winter with a 3-4 inches. Also we are at the end of our growing season and anything cut now (real low) will not have a chance to get
any growth before winter.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

The Noble Foundation is a tremendous resource for pasture management information. There are a lot of "wives' tales" out there that have no verification from a scientific standpoint.

 

[EagleTDL]

I never heard the theory that leaving it long-and matted keeps out the weed seeds. One other benefit to "short in the fall" is when the wind blows, the leaves keep moving!

I hear ya about keeping the leaves moving, can't disagree with that! But, there is some goodness to those leaves if you make use of them... Granted, leaving a thick layer of leaves on your lawn over the winter isn't a good thing, it leads to rot and fungus problems and nobody wants that.

My personal choice is to let the leaves fall and then on a good dry day, mulch them into the yard. Set the deck about a .5" higher than the grass and run over them a couple of times to reduce them to small particles. Lots of nutrients in them and I'm all about turning that back into the soil for next year's growth. It's free fertilizer! :thumbsup:

Granted, Wikipedia ain't the end all, be all. But, there's a lot of good iinfo in there. Take a look at this link, especially the last sentence in the "Water" sub-section:

"After the seedling emerges from the seed coat and starts growing roots and leaves, the seedling's food reserves are typically exhausted; at this point photosynthesis provides the energy needed for continued growth and the seedling now requires a continuous supply of water, nutrients, and light."

If the weed seed germinates on the matted grass, it can't get any nutrients from the soil because it's not touching the soil. It will eventually die off...

I would think cutting or grazing short is kinda the same ... the following is pasted from the Noble Foundation ...

This goes with what I was saying about leaving it long. I cut my field grass at 3.5 on my Toro, and 4.0 for my bermuda in the civilized portion of the lawn. What you said just backs up what I was saying up post...

 

[Western]

I think it will also depend on what your grass is used for, I.E. grazing or just an ornamental lawn.

In my hay fields ( Giant Bermuda) I would let go through winter cut about 6" tall, so in the spring, I could burn it off with the first growth of weeds, usually sometime in March.

In my yard I try to leave it around 3" for the last cutting (Hybrid lawn type Bermuda). I want something there all winter that wont become a mud pit. If I gets matted I'll deal with that in Spring. !st spring cutting , usually just before growth, I mow to 1" (mulch) to rid the lawn of the "stiff" stubble.

 

[LBrown59]

I set my BXs at 4" for the whole mowing season .

 

[EagleTDL]

I set my BXs at 4" for the whole mowing season .

I upgraded from a 50" Toro to a 72" one late this summer... You would think that the same brand would be equivalent in cut heights. Wait for it.... Yep, you guessed it, they weren't! A deck setting of 3 on the 50" is 3.5 on 72". Unless you get under the deck and measure the blades on a level surface, you don't know what height you are cutting at.

Not saying that your 4 really isn't a 4 there LB, but I'd be shocked if your 4 matched my 4! :laughing:

 

[sld]

I prefer short for the last mow. As long as it is shorter than my neighbors, all the leaves will blow into their yards.:laughing:

 

[jimmyj]

I can't find the backup for this but we took courses on this years ago and I am pretty sure it was

1st mow short
Long all summer
Last mow short

Sorry, I wish I had facts to back it up.

 

[EagleTDL]

1st mow short
Long all summer
Last mow short

It would be interesting to see why the course wanted the last mow short? I'd be willing to give some thought about cutting short on the last mow if there were some good reasoning behind it...

And of course, there will always be conflicting opinions... See here for cutting short and here for cutting long (last statement on the page).

 

[SandburRanch]

In my hay fields ( Giant Bermuda) I would let go through winter cut about 6" tall, so in the spring, I could burn it off with the first growth of weeds, usually sometime in March.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
:thumbsup::thumbsup:

This method will also be a discourage the promotion of the invasive Cheat Grass germinating in the fall if that is a problem in your area. Believe me, you don't want it.

cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum (Cyperales: Poaceae)

 

[LBrown59]

I upgraded from a 50" Toro to a 72" one late this summer... You would think that the same brand would be equivalent in cut heights. Wait for it.... Yep, you guessed it, they weren't! A deck setting of 3 on the 50" is 3.5 on 72". Unless you get under the deck and measure the blades on a level surface, you don't know what height you are cutting at.

Not saying that your 4 really isn't a 4 there LB, but
* I'd be shocked if your 4 matched my 4! :laughing:

*You are probably right about that
but

I have a BX23 with a 60''MMM and a BX1500 with a48'' inch MMM.
I mow with both tractors set on #4 and see no difference in cutting hight .
.

 

[workinallthetime]

i guess the big debate came from what happened last year, we had some areas that game back like a plush carpet and some area's that well never came back. we have always "scalped" it the first few mows in the spring to help prevent the weeds and that has proved very effective. i think this year i will leave it up a notch or 2 for the last cut and see what kind of results we get.
thanks for your help fellas, and it it weighs in on the subject at all im cutting with a kubota ZD326 60" deck.

 

[Bird]

I've never been able to get my current lawn looking like I want it to look, primarily because of the shade; too little sunshine and perhaps too little water. I've got mostly bermuda in the front, st. augustine in the back, but with some bermuda. I always scalp the lawn, with bagger, first thing in the Spring, then fertilize and water it in. Then each mowing after that I raise the mower one notch; used to only go to 2.5", but this year 3.5" if my Toro ZTR is right. I don't think I ever heard of mowing short in the Fall, but doubt that it hurts anything.

But in spite of what all the "experts" say about letting the grass get taller, I have my doubts. It just seems to me the yard does better if kept mowed to 2" or even less.

Down in the country, I didn't have any cattle, but let a neighbor run his cows in my little 7 acre pasture. The first Summer after I bought the place, the grass (and weeds) were probably knee high. I mowed it just as short as a Bush Hog Squealer would go. The neighbor told me he thought I'd ruined it as far as grazing for his cattle. Well, it turned out that his cattle liked my place better than his own pasture; easier for them to graze on the fresh new shoots of grass.

 

[bobmisi]

I've researched this several times and last mow of the season should be short. Less chance of developing diseases, fungus, etc. as well as not getting matted over the winter. Also will start growing quicker in the spring. If you leave it long it will not start new growth until after you mow it in the spring. Basically quicker green-up in the spring. All in all diseases and fungus should be the main reason though. I mow lawns for a living and it works far better for me. You should always fertilize in fall also. That is the most important application you can do, as it will get to the roots and stimulate growth without making the grass grow above ground that much.