Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mowing]

The act of cutting a lawn

is the act of cutting a lawn. Typically, a motorized (electric or gasoline) mower is used to cut a grass lawn, although there are hand-powered mowers, and non-grass lawns also exist. Animals, such as goats, can also be used to mow grass.

Use this tag for all questions about lawn mowing and other types of mowing (eg. of meadows). Typical questions will include when, how frequently, and how high the mowing should be.

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How often should you mow a growing lawn?

During the warm months when my grass is growing, is there a mowing schedule I can use to encourage the lawn to be green and healthy? Mine often seems "unhappy" when it's been cut (goes pale, some browning), which makes me want to mow it…
Paul Turner
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How can I mow a moist lawn?

My lawn is wet at the moment (well, a bit dewey, not soaking as in just rained), and it clogs my mower, causing it to work harder and fail to collect anything in the basket. Is there a solution besides waiting until dried? Walk faster/slower? Speed…
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I do not want to mow the lawn, how can I have a lawn without having to mow?

I have a lawn, but I limit my mowing. Plants do not grow well in the sandy soil. Weeds grow extremely well. The climate is moist, humid spring, summer and fall. Winter is snow and ice. There is lots of sunshine during the noon hours of the…
Laura Betts
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Is there an optimum time to mow the lawn?

I am looking to buy a robot lawn mower for my newly laid lawn. These mowers are designed to make small cuts but to be used often. This I understand to be beneficial. They are capable of being operated on a schedule, mowing every day in the…
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Can I shave exposed roots from a Silver Maple tree to avoid damage when mowing?

We have large roots from a huge Silver Maple tree that are partially above ground and interfere with mowing. Can I shave them so the mower can pass over them?
Ron Hittenberger
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How often do mower blades need to be sharpened?

An important practice in toxin-free (and other) turf care is to only mow with sharp blades. So how often do I have to sharpen the blades? I'm sure that it will depend on conditions, but is there some general guideline? Is it based on area mowed?…
That Idiot
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Can mowing weeds cause them to spread?

I know that there are plants that can sprout from cuttings, so I wonder about this. I have a mulching mower that deposits clippings back on the lawn. There are some weeds like thistles and violets that seem to thrive the more I mow them. Is it…
Mark Ransom
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How high should I cut fescue grass?

The fescue grass in my yard is not doing well. I suspect that I may be cutting it too short--especially in the summer heat. I have cut it to a length of three inches for several years now. How tall should fescue grass be before and after cutting?
Dale
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Should I mow my lawn during a drought?

Upstate New York is experiencing a severe drought that I never even thought was possible in what I have always known as a permanently wet and cloudy region. I have left my lawn unmowed for over a month and in my neighborhood, more ground is brown…
rm -rf slash
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How long should I wait to mow my lawn a second time when I try to avoid cutting more than 30% of the blade in one cutting?

One key principle in maintaining healthy turf is mowing regularly enough that you never cut more than 30% of the blade length in any single cutting. In peak growing season it can be difficult to keep up with the growth. So say I find the grass to be…
That Idiot
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Which way to put lawnmower on side?

When cleaning my lawnmower I have to put it on its side so that I can clean its underside. However, I keep on reading that you can only put it on one side, not the other, otherwise oil and/or gasoline leaks into other components. I have a PowerPlus…
Tahir Hassan
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Lawn-mowing: when to mulch and when to bag?

I know mulching when mowing is typically a good thing for the health of the yard. If this is the case, under what circumstances should I bag the clippings?
Kellenjb
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Sod too high, mowing issues

I laid some sod and it took well, but when I mow it, the mower sinks in and scalps it, even on the highest setting. Any ideas for fixes? Edit: The green strips are where the lawn mower wheels are. I did take the old sod out, and rough up the…
CeeDee
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Please explain how leaving turf 1/8" longer equals 30% increase in leaf area

A number of eco-friendly turf management sources say something along the lines of Increasing grass height only 1/8 inch adds about 300 square feet more energy-collecting leaf surface for each 1,000 square feet of lawn. So, it has a greater…
That Idiot
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Mowing traction

I have to mow on a section of yard, by a ditch, that is at a steep angle, too steep for me to mow across with my lawn tractor. So it needs to be mowed with a walk behind mower. However, at the steepest part, I am afraid I will wipe out and fall…
becca
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