How High Is Your Grass? How High Should It Be?

For the sake of simplicity, we will assume you have either northern grass (rye, bluegrass or fescue), or southern grass (zoysia or Bermuda). Northern grasses tend to grow upward. Southern grasses tend to grow by creeping along the soil.

The simple answer to how high you should cut your grass is:
3 inches – northern grasses
2 inches – southern grasses
Cutting the grass shorter than this will tend to damage the structure of the grass plant and put undo stress on the lawn. These grasses can be cut higher, if you prefer.

Every year my neighbor announces he is going to cut his grass "low" so he will not have to cut it as often. Personally, I cut my lawn at 4 inches. You can imagine that we drive each other crazy. Guess what? We both mow just as often. The difference is I’m still mowing in the heat of the summer and he’s not, because his lawn is burnt to a crisp and mine is thriving due to good root structure.

One rule to keep in mind is that you should never cut more than 1/3 of the grass blade off at a time. For example, if your southern lawn is 3 inches high, you should set your mower at no less than 2 inches. Cutting more than 1/3 of the length off will damage the grass.

A quick word about how climate affects cutting length… If your weather is very hot and dry, you should cut higher than the recommended length. Again, this is done to protect the overall health of the grass plant. It also will shade the soil and keep it cooler.

The question I hear the most, other than cutting height, is how often should the mower blade be sharpened. The rule of thumb is to sharpen the blade every 10 hours of use.

By following these few simple rules, your lawn will be healthier and more lush. So, mow the correct height, do not cut more than 1/3 off at a time, and keep your mower blade sharp. Your lawn will thank you for it!

Organic lawn care has been my passion and my business for the last decade. The products I have used and found to be effective can be purchased on my websites: www.backto-nature.com and www.moleinator.com

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