Why the Biggest Lawn Care Mistake Is Cutting Grass Too Short

It’s easy to make mistakes along your lawn care journey. From knowing how much water your lawn needs to choosing the best grass, it isn’t always simple knowing the right care for your lawn.

One quick drive through almost any neighborhood with pristine, green lawns quickly reveals the biggest lawn care mistake you might accidentally be making—mowing the grass too short. When you understand the effects of this kind of mowing, you’ll never look at lawns the same way again.

If you’ve been cutting your lawn too short, don’t panic. Below, we explain more why this overlooked mistake is so important to your lawn health and how to fix it fast.

Why Grass Height Is So Important

One reason people cut their lawns so short is a misguided effort to reduce chores. By giving the lawn a crew cut each time you mow, you might think you can mow every 10 days (for example) rather than every week.

The problem is that this kind of mowing puts an enormous amount of stress on the turf. Here are some issues that arise when your lawn is too short.

• Each blade of grass is a leaf, and with less leaf area, each grass plant has less surface area to provide the photosynthesis that fuels leaf and root development. 
• When the lawn is mowed too short, the actual crowns of the grass plants themselves can be injured by the lawnmower blade, and this opens up a host of cascading problems.
• As the plant puts all its energy into recovering from the crown damage, it opens up a weakness in the lawn, increasing the pressure from weeds, insects, and diseases.

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How to Fix This Mistake

A lawn of dense turf grass shorn to a uniform one to two inches is a beautiful thing to behold—for a little while, anyway. The solution is very easy. Mow the lawn as high as possible—as high as you can comfortably tolerate.

Most homeowners find that three to three-and-a-half inches is a good height, though it may take some time to become acclimated to a length that feels a little shaggy at first.

Mowing the lawn to this height once a week (or less during heat and drought stress) will ease the stress on the plants and result in an overall healthier lawn. Using a mulching lawnmower is even better; returning the clippings to the lawn saves work and provides another source of organic matter to the lawn.

A longer lawn means more leaf blades, and this provides several benefits. More leaf blade means more photosynthesis, which results in stronger, more prolific root and shoot growth. This, in turn, means the plant is better able to withstand stresses such as drought, insect infestation, and heat.

Healthier individual turf plants lead to a denser lawn that will crowd out weeds. Longer grass also has the effect of hiding whatever patchy, thin areas do exist in the lawn.

How Tall Is Too Tall for Grass?

Once you have recognized that a longer lawn is healthier than a crew-cut lawn, be careful not to go to extremes by letting the grass grow to six or eight inches or more between mowings. Most lawn care experts recommend cutting no more than one-third of the total length of the grass blades each time you mow; trimming a smaller amount is even better.

Very long grass is hard to mow effectively—the grass blades tend to tear rather than be sliced off cleanly by the lawnmower blade. Too many clippings can form a mat on your lawn that blocks sunlight from reaching the grass blades and mars the appearance of your lawn.

If you have settled on a three-inch mowing height, for example, don’t let the grass get longer than four or four-and-a-half inches between mowings. Trimming frequently with a mulching mower to keep your lawn turf in the three-to-four-inch length range is a great prescription for a beautiful, healthy lawn.