Lawn Care Advice

Texas home owners perform many different tasks to produce a nice attractive lawn.

There is fertilizer to apply, irrigation to set to that just right amount of water, pesticides to get rid of the bugs and weeds, cultivation and even top dressing for the dedicated lawn aficionado. Of all the many tasks involved in producing a great green lawn that will turn your neighbors green with envy, the most important is mowing.

 

The importance of mowing

If all other tasks are done equally well, the lawn with the most detailed attention to mowing will be the best lawn. These are the basic elements involved in mowing your Texas lawn, and some tips on producing that perfect backyard.

 

Lawn mowers

When deciding on mowing equipment there are many factors. The size of the lawn, the grade and terrain of the area, the access to the area, and the quality of the equipment all come into play.

Large flat areas may require large mowers to save time. Small areas, small fenced areas, slopping terrain, and uneven areas may need a simple push mower. Using the push mower to do the large areas would eat your time, using large mowers in tight uneven spaces may eat your lawn. This has become enough of a problem that there is a term for it. BMB, or Big Mower Blight. Large mowers making sharp turns produce bare areas from wheel impact, since they may need to cover the same area several times to reach all the nooks and crannies, they can cause compaction. Because the decks are large and inflexible, they often cause scalping. There is nothing wrong with large lawn mowers, but they should only be used in areas that are size appropriate.

When buying equipment for mowing, consider the quality of the equipment. In general, the simpler the design the better. A simple design means fewer parts to break, and less maintenance cost. Look for well built equipment with solid construction and easy maintenance access.

 

Mowing frequency

The most important factor for lawns is mowing. The most important part of mowing is frequency. The more often you mow, the better the quality of the lawn. Frequent mowing reduces weeds, reduces clipping size, and produces a higher level of lateral growth. Weeds cannot reach maturity before going to seed, clippings are more readily broken down into nitrogen and organic matter, lateral growth increases, filling bare spots, and thickening the lawn.

 

Mowing height

Mowing height is determined by the type of lawn grass you have, and the time of year. In general, Bermudagrass does best at 1 inch or lower. Saint Augustine may function best at a height of 3 inches or more. Cool season grasses like Fescue and Perennial rye do well at a height of 1 to 2 inches.

The best practice seems to be mowing at the lower heights early in the season to mow off the excess brown top growth, and raising the height gradually as the season advances.

 

Clippings

Unless something has gone wrong, say, something like too much time between cutting the lawn, clippings should be left on the lawn. They provide nitrogen and organic matter, and both are important to the long term health of your Texas lawn. When you remove clippings, you rob the soil of fertility, up to about 60% of the nitrogen that you supply to the lawn. Removing clippings prevents your lawn from going through the natural cycle of breaking the cuttings down into useful organic matter, and robs the microbes that perform this task of the food they need to continue to perform this task. This decreases the population of microbes which help to rebuild the soil. Of course, these clippings break down more easily if they are small. The size of the clippings you drop on your lawn is largely a function of mowing frequency. The more often you mow, the shorter the cuttings.

 

Lawn mowing tips:

• Use the right size equipment for the job.
• Keep blades sharp for clean efficient cutting.
• Keep your mowing equipment well maintained for long life and safe operation.
• Mow as often as reasonably possible.
• Don't bag clippings