Mowing your grass or lawn at the proper height really creates a good foundation to keep your turf healthier, under the least amount of stress as possible, and drought tolerant as well. In commercial landscaping, we will see two types of turf in South Texas typically; Bermuda Grass and St. Augustine. Bermuda Grass likes to be mowed anywhere from an inch to two inches tall, where St. Augustine prefers to be mowed from two and a half, all the way up to four inches tall depending on the commercial landscaping site.
The importance of mowing turf in the commercial landscape at the correct height is to really keep your grass as lush, thick, and green as it can be. This will help to minimize diseases and reduce the weed pressure as well. A thick lush green lawn will naturally choke out weeds and make it more disease resistant which means it will minimize the need to apply such products as herbicides or fungicides on the lawn. This requires less effort and is also better for the environment. A naturally healthy lawn is always the best choice in commercial landscaping.
Keeping the lawn of a commercial property mowed with best practices is really important to commercial maintenance. The general rule of thumb is, you don’t want to cut more than one-third of the leaf blade off at any one time when you’re mowing. If your Bermuda Grass is maintained at two inches, once it gets to two and a third inches long it is time for the lawn to be mowed. Maintaining your turfgrass at a level that is shorter than the recommendation doesn’t necessarily mean it will need less cutting. In fact, if it’s too short, you’re inviting weeds and heat damage to your lawn. Let the grass grow too long between cuttings, and you run the risk of creating an ideal habitat for insects like mosquitoes and critters like mice and snakes. Grass that is too long is also hard to mow and takes more time to cut. The extra-long clippings create more work since they usually need to be raked or bagged. Typically, that means weekly mowing, and in some cases, it could mean bi-weekly mowing depending on the time of the year and the amount of rainfall we are getting in the area. A professional commercial landscape maintenance company is your best advocate for ensuring that the grass is being maintained at the proper height year-round.
Another important element in proper lawn maintenance is having a sharp mower blade every time the lawn is cut. When you have a sharp mower blade, you are actually cutting the grass blade off versus a dull mower blade which actually rips and tears at each blade of grass. A dull blade leaves jagged edges at the end of each blade of the turf which can promote disease and different issues that can stress your lawn. The effects of a dull mower blade can cause your lawn to look off colored, not giving it that green, thick, lush lawn that you are looking for.
If you mow your lawn frequently and at the proper height, irrigate properly with a head-to-head coverage irrigation system, and use a good sharp mower blade, the end result will be a naturally healthy green lawn which requires less time and money to maintain in the long run . You and all your visitors to your commercial building, hospital, church, or school will enjoy and appreciate!
