Mowing height - what are you at?

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by schreibdave » September 30th, 2019, 8:57 am

Friday I went from 3.5 to 3. Thinking about going to 2.5 today before we get a long stretch of rain. Not to mention more seasonally cool temps.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by deboy922 » September 30th, 2019, 9:43 am

I have been having trouble moving down. I was at 4.0" at Labor Day. I moved to 3.75", but it has been so hot and dry, that I have not moved any lower. It is suppose to be 90 here for the next 3 days and then 60's. I will move to 3.5" the next mow and try to keep lowering through October eventually down to 2.5".

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by napper » September 30th, 2019, 11:03 am

I'm at 2.5. Will be going to 2.25 soon.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by KnickLeDime » October 1st, 2019, 11:15 am

I'm at 3.5 will be going down to 3 on next mow.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by FrankInNC » October 1st, 2019, 12:08 pm

4" normally, but I did cut it down to 3" for overseeding a week and a half ago.


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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by PSU4ME » October 1st, 2019, 2:44 pm

I'm at 3" now but planning this weekend to take it to 2.75". i usually end at 2.5" on the last mowing or 2. I'm mowing every 5 days, wife hates me

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by edslawn » October 1st, 2019, 7:50 pm

3" last weekend.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by schreibdave » October 2nd, 2019, 7:08 am

Got it down to 2.5" yesterday in advance a bunch of rain in the forecast. My Honda mower really struggled with the density of my back yard PR. I had to stop every few passes to clear out accumulated clippings that would pack up in the deck. PITA

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by __JT__ » October 2nd, 2019, 9:24 am

It took a month to get from 4" down to yesterday @ 3.25". September was mowing every 3-4 days. Wasn't too aggressive this year either, mostly BayState, about 1#N or so starting mid August (and lots of clippings). Now things are starting to slow down...I think...

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by Smolenski7 » October 4th, 2019, 11:15 pm

I am usually at 3.75" during the summer. For the last month I've been mowing at 3.25". I put down 1lb/k N. using Bay State back in mid August and have been pretty aggressive with Urea since mid-September. The lawn is thick, green, and growing fast...I mow every 3 days. I would like to start lowering the blade another .25" this week, but I don't think it will let me; it's just growing too fast and is too thick. My Broadmoor will leave clumps every where.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by fun4me2 » October 5th, 2019, 6:29 am

Was mowing every 3-4 days at 3". Last cut was after 4 days.
HOC down to 2 1/2" before predicted "hard frost" last night.
According to my notes, we didn't get our first hard frost last year until oct. 22.
First light frost was oct. 14.
It's still dark out now, and the temp now in the lower pioneer valley is 33.
I'm thinking we didn't get the "hard frost" in my area.
Expected to go up to 60 for high today.
Neighbor's oak and maple leaves are dropping like crazy and finding their way to my yard. :good:
I foresee using my lawnmower more frequently now,
just to keep up mulching the leaves.
I'm thinking of raking some on a tarp, drag them to an area in my back yard that does not benefit from leaves OM,
and mulch them there.
You know, spread the OM gold. :)

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by KBGkicksazz » October 5th, 2019, 6:14 pm

3 inches. We just had a hard frost last night so growth will wane off quickly.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by Green » October 5th, 2019, 9:50 pm

3.75 inches currently here, except for 2/3 of the low-input area, which is still at 4 in, but not for long.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by mped7 » October 7th, 2019, 12:30 pm

In SW Ohio we went from 85-90 degree highs to 65-73 degree highs the past couple of days. So I'm lowering from 3.75" to 3 this week. My last couple of leaf mulching cuts in a few weeks will be 2.5" or less, using 2 passes each cut.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by Factor » October 8th, 2019, 1:19 pm

for the fescue I am at 4 inches.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by Oldschool » October 8th, 2019, 9:08 pm

KBG, I am at “put her to bed” 2 inches

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by JHazzardB » October 9th, 2019, 9:58 am

Dropped her down to 2.25" and liking it there.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by lVlrBoJang1es » October 11th, 2019, 7:06 am

I usually try to hit 2.5" by Halloween. This seems to be almost required for the mulch mowing that i'll soon be doing every other day due to the insane amount of leaf coverage i receive: lower HOC -> better mulching for me.

I'm on schedule - sitting at 3" at the moment. I'll probably drop down to 2.5 next week.

Also, the act of lowering the HOC = more frequent mows for me, which seems to improve the density while on the aggressive fall fert program. Average first frost is right around Halloween also, so that program will be coming to an end soon.

I usually drop down to 2" for the last few mulch mows of the season (usually after top growth stops). I wonder if clipping a bit off the top after top growth hurts anything in terms of root growth during this period?

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by Jackson » October 11th, 2019, 11:40 pm

3”

Looks good, have to mow every 4 days or so because our massive cottonwoods drop leaves constantly and if I don’t stay on top of it they smother the grass. 3” is short enough to suck all the leaves up, long enough that the mulched leaves disappear.

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Re: Mowing height - what are you at?

Post by nclawnguy » October 13th, 2019, 11:57 pm

Finally dropped to 3.5" and overseeded a couple days ago.

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