What is the correct height to cut grass to?

I asked this on another forum also.

I cut at 4" or just below on my trash grass lawns.

 

Correct I don’t know I cut 3 1/2 and every 5 days this time of year

 

Usually 3 - 4 inches up north and shorter down south
depends on grass type.
I usually cut a little shorter beginning and end of season

More important can be how tall you let it get between cuttings. Sometimes I can go three weeks here in Summer and just 3 or 4 days in the Spring.

I'm getting lazy and don't care about having a nice lawn any more and it shows, I have lots of weeds.

 

"Correct" height?!?!?!

 

Called my cousin as he owns landscaping company his statement generally what customers wants BUT he doesn’t go below 3”

 

I cut to 3" and have for years. The grass seems to like it as it grows like crazy.

 

I cut at 2 3/4 inches. My lawns are some grass and a collection of various weeds. If I had a nice stand of grass, I’d mow at 3 1/2-4 inches.

 

A guy I used to work with told me he cuts it as short as he can and waits for the sun to "burn" it.....so he can have more time for fishing!


I used to cut it around 3, maybe shorter. Some areas would get scalped.

I have since switched to 3 1/2; began using weed and feed annually; watering as soon as it begins to "yellow" as the lawn has full sun. That height seems to hold moisture longer than shorter heights.

I have a pump system hooked up to the lake for the garden, lawn, washing vehicles, whatever you don't want to use the well water for. The well water has a softener system and always leaves a white residue on freshly washed vehicles since I do not use a chamois cloth after washing.

By far and large, this is the best lawn I have ever had.

 

I cut at around 3", it could be 3.5" I don't measure. Don't want any longer because:

A: Ticks, they like longer grass and they are bad around here (and so are the diseases they carry - NH is prime Lyme disease territory). NH guy caught an extremely rare disease from a tick that paralyzed him and put him on a ventilator for a while.
B: At least half of my lawn is other than grass or clover. The wild violets, mint, and dandelions I don't mind. But the invasives that put out millions of seeds need curbed.

 

I cut to 3.75 most of the time...there may be spots where I go up to 4" in the spring when it's really growing fast (just so I'm not "winroeing" grass clippings!) and there may be a few spots I can take down to 3.5" once things slow down mid summer...but usually 3.75".
The guys at work like to mow at 3.5" in the spring, it looks terrible, when they go in for break sometimes I'll sneak over and adjust it up to 3.75", and it makes a noticable difference! Sooner or later they catch it and go back to 3.5"
I dunno why, it looks a mess!

 

Which brings up another question for lawns.

Anyone here use lawn sweepers?

 

Don't see those much anymore...

 

My house 3.5 - 4" other house 3"s. Why ? I have no idea.

 

I have one and uses it when clipping get deep

Need compost pile to be useful, and dumping is not easy

 

I heard a long time ago if you want your grass to be healthy don’t cut it so short. Grass stores its nutrients higher up in the blade. Cut it too short and you end up with less healthy grass.

My lawn is a mix of grass and weeds. Does not bother me. Looks good, I think. I try to keep up on the trimming. That makes a big difference in looks.

So I usually cut it at about 3”. But in back yard, where dogs are fenced in, I cut it shorter to help with possible tick situation. 2-1/4” on the dial setting on the zero turn.

 

I am same mow all weeds the same height

 

Part of my strategy calls for never having clipping litter. I sometimes have to move up to 4-1/2" to acheive. My mower is pretty good at chopping material up into bitty pieces that are cast far enough not to windrow much.

 

The one thing I insist my lawn should be is green. It doesn't matter if the green comes from grass or weeds. Wild flowers mixed in during the growing season is a bonus (dandelions, clover, creeping charlie, etc)
Mower is set to 3 inches.

 

Did you know they make a contraption that'll collect the clippings right outta the mower deck? No "trailer" to deal with.

 

I have one of these sweepers I bought several years ago to get sweet gum balls up every year. It works well, better if your yard is pretty smooth. Took out the sweet gum ( in the back yard) couple years ago and have used sweeper for leaves. If you have a large area to mow/maintain I don’t recommend them. The basket capacity is too small which makes for a lot of trips to where you want to dump. It also requires getting off the lawn tractor to raise the sweep mechanism for transport. After dumping you have to get off tractor again to re-engage it to continue sweeping. Last year I simply went over the lawn several time and chopped up the leaves and called it good. We live in the country (so far development hasn’t found us) so having a pristine lawn just isn’t feasible but do keep it up so it looks nice. If you mow and maintain a large area like we do I would recommend a mower attached collection unit.
Edit: I cut at 3 or 3-1/2 inches depending on time of year.