How Often To Mow Lawns

Long periods between lawn mowing should be
avoided to maintain good lawn care and health

Lawn Mowing Regularity

This depends on factors such as the type of lawn, the time of year, and lawn health. When choosing a frequency for our lawns, we aim to match the frequency to the growth rate. Aiming to never remove more than 1/3 of the leaf material in a single mowing, this is the optimum result to seek that lawns respond best to in our lawn care. Another reason when deciding on lawn mowing frequencies is the ongoing usability and tidiness of the lawns we live with, and enjoy.

Avoiding Lawn Damage

Infrequent lawn mowing often leads to damage being caused to lawns, which can happen for several reasons.

• When too much leaf material has been removed in a single mowing, the lawn can go into shock.
• Removing all the green leaf, leaving the thatch layer and crowns exposed to direct sunlight or heat, which can dry out and burn easily, destroying the lawn in the affected area.
• Damaging or removing the lawn crowns, which raise up higher when lawn is left to grow higher, when the lawn is cut back to a low height, the raised crowns are damaged or removed, killing the affected area.

Lawn Weed Control

Any serious weed infestations may also be a factor, when regular mowing will assist in control by the removal of seed heads before they have an opportunity to fall back into the ground.

Hybrid Lawns

Most lawns being planted these days are high performance hybrid lawns, a feature of these lawns is their ability to repair themselves and green up quickly if damaged, this is achieved with a faster growth rate. This same feature also means they require more frequent lawn mowing and vertimowing than lawns in the past.

Lawn Prices Relate To Aggressiveness

In fact, the price of new roll on turf relates directly to the growing aggressiveness of the species, the faster a lawn grows, the more times the turf farm can use the same land to grow another batch of turf, equalling cheaper turf. This can be seen in the price difference between two of Australia’s most popular turf species, where very aggressive Wintergreen Couch Lawn is usually half the price of less aggressive Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo.

Most Common Lawn Mowing Frequency

For most modern lawns in good health, a regime of two weekly cutting in Summer and four weekly cutting in Winter is the correct lawn mowing frequency to maintain a lawn which is green and in good health, with the possibility of lawn thatching being kept at a minimum.

Lawn Tillering

Regular mowing also encourages the tillering effect in lawns, where less runners and more green leaves are produced, resulting in a greener softer lawn.