After you have aerated or verticut your Lawn, planted your seed, and watered your new seed, it is now time to mow. How often do I mow? Is it the same as when I normally mow my lawn? Here are your answers to these questions:
When to Mow New Grass
As a general rule, we don’t want the lawn to get real tall before we mow it. We still live by the guideline that you don’t want to remove more than 1/3 of the leaf blade anytime you mow. Therefore mowing at 3″ means you should mow the lawn when it is 4″ tall.
But what if the older Grass is getting tall enough but the new grass isn’t? You still mow when the old grass is 4″ tall to a height of 3″. The same thing can occur when some new grass grows faster than the rest. You should still mow when that portion of the lawn gets 4″ tall. You may not have to mow the entire lawn that weekend but you should mow the tall parts until the entire lawn is tall enough to mow.
Check out my cheesy video to get another idea of what I’m talking about http://www.youtube.com/user/WesOry#p/a/u/1/4WV3qkIbhg4
How to Mow New Grass
Once your new grass is 4 inches tall, it is time to mow. We recommend mowing with a push mower at its highest mowing height. A push mower is lighter weight which will help avoid creating divots in the soft turf while the highest blade height will help avoid damaging the new grass blades.
Lawn Coach, Jason Clarkson, elaborated on why you should use a push mower at first, “I suggest using a push mower to avoid compacting the new grass under the heavy riding mower tires.”
Piles of debris on your lawn can suffocate your new grass. To keep this from happening, mow frequently or rake to remove all clumps from your growing grass. Jason also added, “Make sure you rake up any debris left on the ground so you don’t leave anything over the new grass to desiccate in areas where clumps may be. I also recommend the mowing to be in the evening when there is no dew so the grass does not clump.”
Jason went on to explain the importance of your mowing patterns, “After your first mow, you will want to mow every 5-7 days as needed, as well as making sure you’re changing your mowing patterns in the lawn so you don’t cause tire ruts in the lawn by mowing the same direction.”
3 Mowing Patterns to Rotate Through
Example of mowing in a vertical pattern. Diagram by Lawn, Coach, Jason Clarkson.
Example of mowing in a diagonal pattern. Diagram by Lawn Coach, Jason Clarkson.
An example of mowing in a horizontal pattern. Diagram by Lawn Coach, Jason Clarkson.
When Is Weed Control Safe
TIP: Putting weed control down too early can hurt the new grass.
Lawn Coach, Brian Hiatt, explains the basics of knowing when to safely add weed control to new grass. “After 2 to 3 mows, weed control can be applied to the lawn again without affecting the new grass.”
We hope that our advice has given you helpful information to make the right decisions for your lawn! If you have any further question, please call the office today at (913) 451-4664.
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