Mowing is actually one of my favorite pastimes when I’m home. Not only is mowing a great stress reliever, but it is also a sure way to keep your lawn in good health. But, as much as I enjoy mowing, there are several times when it’s best to leave my lawn mower in the shed.
As I’ll go over in this blog, mowing at the wrong time can actually cause some pretty terrible damage to your lawn. So, here’s my list of 10 different scenarios when not to cut grass. Hopefully, this list will help you avoid causing any unnecessary damage to your lawn.
When Not to Cut the Grass (The Short Answer)
There are several different scenarios when cutting your lawn isn’t a good idea. These include factors such as the weather, the grass’s health, growth stage, and any additional treatment you may have given your lawn. Here’s a list of different scenarios when not to cut your grass:
- Wet Grass
- Scorched Grass
- Scalped Grass
- Newly Fertilized Lawn
- Newly Pest Treated Lawn
- Diseased Grass
- Recently Seeded Grass
- New Sod
- Dormant Grass
- Recently Cut Grass
Times When You Should Not Mow Your Lawn (+ Why)
I know this is a pretty long list of times when you should not mow your lawn. So, let’s take a closer look at each of the scenarios and find out why they are a problem when mowing your lawn.
Mowing Wet Grass
It can be difficult to avoid cutting your lawn when wet. Sometimes there’s an unexpected rain shower, your irrigation goes off at the wrong time, or if you like mowing your lawn early in the morning when the dew has yet to burn off. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but any of these situations will cause a problem for both your lawn mower and your lawn.
The problem is that when the grass is wet, your lawn mower can’t cleanly cut the grass blades. Instead, the blades tear the grass leading to a whole bunch of problems like an uneven cut, browning of the blade tips, and additional stress to the grass. An even bigger concern is that torn grass blades are an invitation for issues like fungal diseases.
Scorched Grass
It’s common for your grass to get scorched during the hot summer months. Once the grass experiences temperatures over and above what it can handle, it goes dormant. Drought is another factor that can cause grass dormancy because the grass doesn’t have sufficient water to carry out the photosynthesis process.
For example, grasses like Kentucky Bluegrass and Fine Fescues go dormant to protect themselves during these extreme weather conditions. So, if your lawn is starting to slow its growth and you see brown grass in the summer due to the heat, then it’s best not to mow it and cause it additional stress.
Scalped Grass
Scalping your lawn might happen accidentally or as part of your annual routine. Either way, scalped grass needs quite a long time to recover. In perfect conditions, this might take anywhere from 4-8 weeks if the scalping was intentional.
During your lawn’s recovery process, the grass repairs itself and pushes out new shoots. The last thing you want to do is get in the way of this process. Unfortunately, mowing scalped grass before it has had the time to recover fully can lead to your lawn dying off altogether.
Newly Fertilized Lawn
Next on the list of when not to cut grass is just after you have fertilized or just before fertilizing. The fertilizer needs to make its way down to the soil bed to increase the nutrient levels. Fertilizer doesn’t help the grass blades. Fertilizer is meant for the soil so the nutrients can reach the roots, which then transport the nutrients to the rest of the plant.
When you mow, the fertilizer will get sucked up from the soil and into the blades. If fertilizer gets into the freshly cut grass blade tips, the grass will burn and that is not a great look.
Newly Pest Treated Lawn
Pest treatment on your lawn works the same as fertilizer. The pest treatment is for the pests and not the grass blades. So, if you create open blade cuts by mowing, you’ll risk damaging your lawn as the grass sucks in the pest control chemicals. I’ve done this a few times with different chemicals. Some damage my lawn, and some don’t.
So, to be safe, I just avoid mowing altogether whenever I treat my lawn. 24h is plenty of time to wait until I mow my lawn after the pest treatment.
Diseased Grass
Diseased grass can be tricky to deal with. Diseases like brown patch, fairy rings, and snow mold on your lawn can be a real problem. Not only will mowing this area potentially spread the disease across your yard, but it will also stress the grass more than it already is. Therefore, I recommend you avoid these areas as much as possible when mowing.
Recently Seeded Grass
If you are one of those who overseed their lawn, you probably already know that you should wait around a month before reaching for your lawn mower. Knowing when to mow after seeding is key. Heading out too early with your mower will damage the new sprouts and your new lawn.
My best advice is to fight the temptation of mowing and let your newly seeded lawn germinate and grow long enough to avoid doing any damage with the mower.
Mowing New Sod
If you have just laid new sod and it’s starting to grow, this doesn’t mean you can jump on your lawn mower. Newly laid sod needs plenty of time to establish roots and take hold of the soil. A good test is to see if you can lift a corner of your sod to check how the roots are growing. If your sod hasn’t grown roots and you can still lift your sod pieces, then it’s definitely not ready to mow.
Dormant Grass
We have already looked at grass that has reacted to hot weather and drought, but now let’s look at grass that has gone dormant because of the cold. Many types of grass, like St. Augustine, start to slow their growth as the weather cools off and then speed up again when it starts to warm up again.
What is happening is the individual plant shifts its energy to the root and away from blade growth. Even though the tops of the grass aren’t growing, the roots are still at work. So heading out with your lawn mower to cut your dormant lawn will force the grass to shift its energy from the roots to the blades, which is definitely not good for your lawn.
If your lawn has gone dormant or is just coming back into the growth stage, be patient and wait. When you know your lawn is actively growing, you can head out with your mower and begin mowing.
Recently Cut Grass
This is a funny one on my list of when you should not cut your grass. Now for a lot of people, the time to mow seems to come around too quickly, but for others, it’s not quick enough. For example, I used to hear one of my neighbors fire up his lawn mower every few days.
At first, I thought he was just working on the engine. But after some investigation, I saw that he mowed the lawn every few days. No, I’m not a nosey neighbor. I was just curious. So, the next time I bumped into him, I asked why he mowed so often. It appears he’s a bit OCD with his lawn. Then, he explained that his lawn always seemed to struggle.
Well, yeah, I thought. A lawn doesn’t like to be cut too much. My rule is to only cut after seven days or longer. Stressing out a lawn by cutting it every few days really isn’t a good idea if you want a strong, healthy lawn.
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