Purpose of Mowing: The purpose of lawn mowing is not just only for appearance purposes or to avoid receiving letters from the HOA, it is primarily for the purpose of achieving a healthy and attractive lawn. The main contributor to achieving a healthy and attractive lawn is deep and consistent root growth and frequent mowing helps contribute to this goal; the more it’s mowed the thicker and healthier the lawn will become over time. Even during the cooler season, when the grass doesn’t “look like” it needs it, the grass plant still benefits from being mowed at least twice a month. A healthy lawn will; a) crowd out most weeds, b) be more drought tolerant, and c) be more resistant to diseases and lawn damaging insects.
 
Of the three main elements of proper lawn care – fertilization, watering and mowing – mowing is often the most underestimated. Proper mowing plays a vital role in your lawn’s success. There are three factors involved in proper mowing; 1) frequency, 2) mowing height, and 3)mulching (recycling) the clippings, each are discussed below.
 
Mowing Frequency: Mowing frequency is a major contributor to the thickness and overall health of the grass. Cutting the grass weekly during the warmer season, when the grass is growing rapidly, encourages a thicker and healthier lawn and helps to keep from too much of the grass being cut off at one time, which can have a negative impact on the grass.
 
We recommend the following mowing frequency:

 

• Weekly March through October
• 2x Month November through February

 
Mowing twice a month during the cooler season – even though the lawn doesn’t “look like” it needs it – has several benefits:

• 1) It continues to encourage thicker plant growth which results in a healthier lawn.
• 2) It helps reduce the spread and growth of weeds. When mowing too infrequent during the cooler month’s weeds are allowed to mature and produce more weed seeds which are then blown off into the soil by the wind.
• 3) Leaves are removed more frequently leaving your lawn cleaner.
• 4) It just looks better; even when the grass isn’t growing much, it’s still growing, and you can tell when it’s been cut.

 
Mowing Height: To achieve the best results for the overall health of your lawn we cut lawns at the optimum height based on the type of grass and season. Mowing at the optimum height reduces the lawn’s watering needs because when cut too high the grass will release water vapor thereby resulting in the need to make more to replenish the loss of water in the
plant. Cutting the grass too low stresses the lawn and reduces its ability to recover quickly and it also causes the grass to have a more difficult time fighting disease & insects. We have found that the best way for the lawn to grow to the desired height is to consistently cut it at its optimum height.

Mulching (Recycling): Mulching the grass clippings year-round has several benefits for the lawn:

• Water conservation – grass blades are 70-80% water which, when mulched, returns that moisture back into the soil.
• Light fertilization – grass clippings contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, water and all the other macro and micro nutrients the grass plant needs. Mulching returns these nutrients back into the turf.
• Thatch reduction – Mulching clippings reduces thatch buildup.
• Healthy soil – Returning grass clippings and leaves to the soil helps provide food for beneficial lawn insects and earthworms.

 
When mulching, the grass blades are minced to fine particles and redeposits these nutrients back into the soil which the plant then takes into its system. During the cooler season we continu to mulch the clippings year-round instead of bagging since there are very few actual cold days in the Houston area. Bagging the grass clippings removes these nutrients from the lawn, however, we will bag if the grass is too tall to be mulched or if there are a large amount of leaves on the ground.
 
Our desire is for your lawn to be as healthy and attractive as possible, so if you would like to upgrade your mowing service frequency to
take advantage of the benefits mentioned above will provide your lawn, then please lets us know and we will be glad to help.