Ken's Lawn Mainenance Inc.

Your friend in lawn care since 1988.

Mowing & Blades

Mowing - The mowing of the lawn is as important as the treatment programs. Mowing height should be 3 inches or higher depending on the variety of grass. Don’t trust the setting on the mower. Put the mower on a flat surface and with a tape measure, measure the distance between the bottom of the blade and the ground (turn mower off and secure it from rolling). No more than 1/3 of the grass blade should be cut at once. Bagging the clippings is robbing the lawn of additional nutrients. Clippings will break down and return nitrogen to the soil. However, leaving piles of clippings on the lawn can be detrimental to the turf. Mulching blades are not recommended unless frequency of mowing is increased. During the growing seasons, the lawn should be cut every seven days at the minimum. If your mower can’t keep up with the growth of the lawn, cut more frequently.

 

Blades - One of the most unrecognized and under-practiced tips for a healthy, good looking lawn is SHARP blades. Sharp blades will not only enhance the vigor of the lawn, but they also put less strain on the mower by decreasing resistance. Dull blades shred the grass instead of cut it. This leaves the lawn looking dull and gray. Always keep an extra set of sharp blades for your mower on the work bench or in the shed so they are ready when the blades being used are dull. After installing the sharp blades, send the dull ones out to be professionally sharpened at your local lawn mower shop. New blades bought for your mower are not sharpened at the factory, probably for liability reasons. This leads me to my next point. When changing blades, use extra caution, secure the mower properly and always wear leather gloves. Trust me, I learned the hard way!

 

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