How high for last mowing?

[Gary_in_Indiana]

That's my question for the fall season. How high or low should I be cutting my grass for what could be the last time of the season. This is an old pasture I've been working to reclaim and have looking pretty decent now. Any thoughts?

 

[BB_TX]

If there are any weeds, keep mowing until there is no longer a threat of them going to seed. That is the best way (short of chemicals) to control weeds and improve the quality of your pasture.

 

[Junkman]

Keep it cut as close as possible so the falling leaves blow off of the grass. I cut my grass at 2 1/2" for the fall. Any closer and I am also cutting rocks in the lawn. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Gary, Gary, Gary. It is never going to be winter in Northern Indiana this year and you will be mowing in December! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif At least that is my prediction. You can laugh at me if we get measurable snow before Thanksgiving. Strange weather, huh?

I like to keep mowing mine until it stops growing, which is sometime during leaf season. I can't really tell when. I never change my height setting. The grass seems to retreat on its own come fall. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "It is never going to be winter in Northern Indiana this year and you will be mowing in December! At least that is my prediction." </font>

It's that kind of insightfulness that made you a TBN All Star! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It has been an odd year here. A monsoon spring, a summer season like a mild springtime and now a couple weeks of summer temps in September. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif With all of the precipitation we've had already, I'm thinking we could have a snowy winter for the first time this millennium.

As to the pasture, I've been cutting it as high as I could set the RFM wheels and it looks pretty good (for an old pasture). /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Please understand, I'm not comparing what I have to a lawn. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was thinking of taking it down to about half this height after I mow this week (because it's too long to do that now). I could still mow until it stops growing but just have it a more lawn like height.

To use jargon GolfGar would appreciate, more like the fringe than the short rough. I just brush hogged a couple other old pastures I have on my 'holiday mowing schedule' (Memorial Day, Independence Day & Labor Day) that would be high rough not even Tiger could hack out of.

Would lowering the height for the front pasture to a more lawn like height now be a good idea for fall? The one plus I can see is that if we have a wet spring and I can't mow for a while I'll have three inches less to mow the first time through. What do you think?

 

[chucko]

Grass stops growing?

 

[MossRoad]

I'd try it a little shorter with each cutting until you get an appearance that you like. Do a test area to make sure you aren't cutting too much.

We had so much rain, and now no rain for a week or so. The grass is turning brown and I may have to water the front for the first time this year. Weird weather. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> Grass stops growing? </font>

Yes, just like it does in Florida -- just a longer non-growing season. Actually, I think the number of times I cut my lawn per year here in Maryland is about the same as I did in Florida. My last cut here is usually sometime in early December, and my first cut is at the end of March or early April. When spring comes, I am having to cut much more often here -- every 4 or 5 days.

In Florida, from about the 15th of October until the 15th of March, I only needed to cut about 5 or 6 times. Once the daytime temps get out of the 90's those southern grasses take a break as well.

 

[Boondox]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> Grass stops growing? </font>

In Florida, from about the 15th of October until the 15th of March, I only needed to cut about 5 or 6 times.
)</font>

Wow! We've usually had several hard frosts and a couple of wet snow storms by mid-October. In a typical year I won't see the ground after Thanksgiving until mid-April to early May...unless we have a January thaw

Pete

 

[chucko]

I have to cut mine twice a week for most of the year and in the winter I plant rye and water to keep it looking green so I get to more once a week (maybe once every week and 1/2) but that does not seem to last long

 

[thcri]

I typicallly cut my grass during the summer at 3-1/2". Last time in the fall I cut it at 3". My experience is longer grass will prevent weeds from moving in much better. That is why I really haven't had a need for weed killers. But for some reason I read someplace and I can't remember where that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping.

murph

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "...I read someplace...that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping." </font>

I kind of had the same belief but, like you, I don't know where I got it or what the logic/reasoning behind it might have been. Maybe someone will enlighten us both. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Probably one of those things passed down generation to generation, IE... I do it that way because my dad did it that way, and his dad, and his dad... but nobody knows why. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "I do it that way because my dad did it that way, and his dad, and his dad... but nobody knows why." </font>

This is totally off topic but one of my favorite stories.

When first married I noticed my wife cut the end off the beef roast she was preparing and put it along the side of the roast before she cooked it. When I asked her why she told me that was how her Mom had shown her.

A while later at her parents' home I remembered and asked her Mom why she did it that way. Of course, she said it was the way she was taught by her Mother. Now I'm truly curious.

Christmas time came around and I took that opportunity to ask the family matriarch about this method of cooking a roast and why I was so interested. She laughed and her eyes sparkled as she told me that she only had a small roasting pan and that was the only way it would fit in her pan. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[fivestring]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I typicallly cut my grass during the summer at 3-1/2". Last time in the fall I cut it at 3". My experience is longer grass will prevent weeds from moving in much better. That is why I really haven't had a need for weed killers. But for some reason I read someplace and I can't remember where that the last cut or the last cuts should be as short as you can without scalping.
murph )</font>

The last cut should be as short as possible.
This keeps the possibility of diseases down.
Longer blades = more surface area for disease.

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> a small roasting pan </font>

Hee, hee. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif We've got the same story in our family only with a ham. Speaking with many people over the years, they also have the same story. Some were because the pan was too small. Some were because the ham was too big. Either way, it gets incorporated into the recipe as "it will taste better if you trim it first".

My dad wasn't a lawn man, so to speak. We lived in the woods and there just wasn't much grass. What was there was thin and mossy and was only mowed a few times a year. He never worked on the lawn mower, and we only had two in the 24 years that I lived there.

When I started dating my wife, I found her dad to be a true lawn man... mows it every three days no matter what. Sharpens his blades every two weeks. Changes the oil several times a year. Pulls the spark plug and cleans it often. Cleans the air filter. He's been through about half a dozen lawn mowers in the last 25 years. Copius use of chemicals, too. There isn't a living thing in his soil. It is a sterile growing medium for grass plants. His does that because that's the way his father taught him.

When we bought our first house in 1985, he gave us a lawn mower. I've never changed the oil. Never pulled the spark plug. Once in a while I'll tap out the air cleaner. It still starts most times on the first pull. Last week I sharpened the blade. As I recall, that's the first time in over 15 years. It cuts a little better, but that is about it.

What I'm getting at is what a powerful influence our role models can be. Good or bad. Right or wrong. So how do we learn how high to cut the grass in the fall? Do we break with tradition or try a new thing and take a risk? I say, try new things often. Make some test areas in the lawn. Do different things here and there and see what works best for us. One year I let the back yard go to clover instead of mowing. We had the best garden because the bees came for the clover flowers. I'd have never learned that without trying something. The neighbors weren't too happy about the clover, but it was green and pretty. So try something new. It may be better than the old way. It may not. But how are we going to know without trying? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif