Buffalo Lawn Mowing Heights

Soft Buffalo should look like this Sapphire

Raise Mowing Heights For Soft Buffalo Lawns

One of the biggest mistakes made by owners of Soft Leaf Buffalo lawns is to mow the lawn too short. This is especially true in cities like Perth where the continuing popularity of cylinder mowers has spread to be used on these new lawn types, which has been a major mistake, resulting in many new Soft Buffalo lawns being left in very poor health.

Soft Leaf Buffalo lawns such as Sir Walter, Palmetto, Sapphire and Matilda all need to be mowed at heights of between 35-65 mm. Cutting these lawn types any lower, and especially at cylinder lawn mowing heights of around 12mm is always very bad practice.

Problems With Mowing Soft Buffalo Too Short

A low cut Soft Buffalo lawn will lose it's lovely dark green leaf after mowing, stunt the growth of the lawn, cause the lawn to lose it's overall colour, often resulting in a yellowish or light green coloured turf.

As well as this, low cut lawn mowing a Soft Buffalo lawn will reduce the overall health of the lawn, and the density of the thatch layer and lawn sward, and keep the lawn in a perpetual state of being at high risk of pests and diseases.

Weeds, Pests and Diseases

Weakened Soft Buffalo lawns in this state can increase the risk of lawn disease taking hold as the lawn is not strong enough to fight off any invasions when they first occur and when a disease is at it's weakest.

The reduced thatch layer will also increase the chances of weeds taking hold in the lawn. This is because the tightly knitted stolons (runners) of a healthy Soft Buffalo, when combined with a healthy, thick green leaf, will naturally out-compete many of the weed seeds when they do land on a lawn.

Also due to it's reduced thatch layer, a Soft Leaf Buffalo lawn can easily be overcome by any combination of high winds, hot days or reduced water, leaving the lawn in extremely poor appearance and health, and at very high risk of developing bare patches. A sudden appearance of any of these environmental conditions can very quickly damage a low cut Soft Buffalo lawn.

Cutting Soft Leaf Buffalo lawns too short really is a recipe for disaster in every way possible.

Revitalise Your Buffalo Lawn Right Now

If you are currently cutting your Sir Walter or Palmetto lawn too short, especially those using a cylinder mower, and your lawn is not performing like you expected it too…

Then immediately raise the mowing height, or stop using a cylinder mower and switch to a rotary mower, and you will very quickly begin to see noticeable changes in the health and vitality of your lawn.

If you're still not seeing a better looking Soft Buffalo lawn after a month or two of using these new lawn mowing heights, then you will need to ensure the lawn is receiving adequate lawn care.

Ensure the lawn is receiving enough water for the season, is being mowed regularly, and is being fertilised every 2 months.