Mowing & Watering the Lawn

Mowing:

First of all, do you need to mow your lawn at all? I can find no essential reason to mow other than for looks. No one cuts it where ever it grows wild. We have grown to use the lawn as the foreground of a painting. It seems to be the central point to display your home and surrounding landscape. Mowing will also help keep the lawn clean of other plants taking over, like trees, shrubs, and other better suited native plants. It will also causes lawn grasses to spread out, filling in thin spots that will be used by weeds. You pick the type of grass to give the look you want. The grass determines how to mow it. Each grass has a minimum height it needs to be healthy. The maximum height is determined by looks and amount of maintenance you are willing or able to give it.

Most of this comes from:

https://aggieturf.tamu.edu/: Main Agrilife Website
http://publications.tamu.edu/TURF_LANDSCAPE/PUB_turf_Cool%20It.pdf
http://tcwp.tamu.edu/files/2012/06/Lawn_Care_85X11_000_1.pdf : Organic Lawn Care from Agrilife Extension Service.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/MowingLawn-Care_vq2193.htm . Howard Garrett’s advice

Mow to "Optimal Height" in table below to give thickest turf and for blocking sun from weed seeds. During the heat of the summer, you can allow the grass to grow up to its maximum height. The taller the grass can grow, the deeper the roots will usually be and will be more drought tolerant it will be. Leaving the grass taller in the fall may also shade out cool season weed seed germination. (The maximum height is also governed by how high you can set your mower too.) You don't want the grass to get so tall that it leans over, at least for best looks. IF YOU HAVE CHIGGERS IN YOUR LAWN, it may necessitate keeping the grass at a lower level until you can treat for them as they like high grass.

Grasses that want to be cut less than 1.5 inches will require a reel mower instead of a rotary mower. A reel mower is like one of those old fashion push mowers without a motor. You can still get new ones for you sporty mowers. Golf courses use powered reel mowers for the putting greens. These are expensive though. You must rake up all of the trash, branches, rocks, dog toys, big seed pods, beer bottles, and stuff before you mow with a reel mower. It can't chew up junk like a rotary mower.

To ease stress on the grass, mow no more than 1/3 of the grass height at any one time. If you are mulching the grass instead of bagging it with the mower, and there are little obvious piles of mowed grass left behind, you are cutting too much off at one time. You can use the 'Height to Mow" column. The values are 1/3 more than the optimum height values. If the grass is too high to cut to optimum height at one time, cut a little off one day, wait 2 or 3 days, and cut down to optimum height. You don’t need to measure the grass though, just eyeball it. Grass in health soil can take a lot of abuse, just ask my lawn.

The base of the grass or crown, where blades grow up and roots grow down, can raise up from the surface if the grass get too tall, and can be mowed off, killing the grass. If you spread more than a half inch of compost down on your lawn, as is recommended periodically, the base of the grass will try to rise above it thinking it's the new soil surface. When the compost is broken down into the soil, it leaves the grass base susceptible to being mowed off. Deep thatch can cause the same thing. Mowing off the grass crowns brings up the problem with uneven lawn surfaces. High points will be scalped, killing or weakening the grass, allowing weeds, disease, and insects to take hold in the yard. Do not use sandy loam by the dump truck full to level your yard. It's usually full of weeds. Bagged top soil from a good source like Rohde's should not be a problem. Ideally you should fill low spots with the same type of soil as in your yard. It will stay put. Too sandy of top soil can move around or wash away.

If you grass is still suffering from droughts, wet springs, funguses, and bugs, the best way to get it to grow back after treating for problems, is to mow at the recommended height, more frequently. The more often you mow, the faster the grass will spread out and thicken up. This means mowing more than once a week, maybe every 4 or even every 3 days if your grass is healthy and growing well. A thick lawn is the best prevention of weeds too.

Howard Garrett sometimes recommends letting the grass get a little taller still in the summer. Generally the roots grow longer when the grass is allowed to grow taller, and this is beneficial in the summer. The height you can let your grass grow is ultimately limited to how high you lawn mower can be adjusted. Mine only goes up to 3.5 inches.

To Bag or Not:

In the early spring if weeds are a problem, mow several times a week and bag the clipping to capture the seed heads. As the warm season grasses start to grow during April or May when the nights are usually 70 degrees or warmer, mulch the cut grass back into the lawn. This can supply up to a third of the grass’s nutrient needs.

http://water.tamu.edu/water-resources-homeowners/ Texas A&M Agrilife Water Education Network: Water Resources for Homeowners (Lots of info and videos on saving water in the home and in the landscape.)
http://itc.tamu.edu/ (Irrigation Technology Program)
https://watermyyard.org/ WaterMyYard.org is a free website that lets Texas residents know when and how much to water based on local weather patterns, the type of irrigation they use and other factors. (Not every area is in the system, but if you are and signed up, you will receive automated emails or text-messages to let you know how much to water your landscape based on local weather conditions.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nljn--oeths (Water My Yard Ad: Texas A&M Agrilife)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYye6GWBkiQ (Turf survival during drought, water shortages: Texas A&M Agrilife)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciEjYvwwQZs (Tree Watering Tips (in a Drought): Texas A&M Forestry Service)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhAoADTC2E0 (Watering and Fertilizing Drought-Damaged Trees and Shrubs: Texas Agrilife)

As with watering the vegetable garden, water the lawn when needed. You may notice the grass discoloring and turning dull, or your foot prints not springing back. Lawn grass roots go down about 6 inches. You want to water enough to wet 6 inches of soil depth. This will encourage deeper drought resistant roots. Many annual weeds are shallow rooted and enjoy frequent watering. Take rain into consideration. Test watering times by poking a 6 inch or longer screwdriver into the ground periodically to see when it will go down 6 inches through moist soil.

Or time you sprinkler output for the suggested amount of water to use a week:
Generally in the summer, use three-fourths of an inch of water per week on St. Augustine or Zoysia grasses that are in full sun. In the shade, these grasses only needs a half-inch of water to stay green and healthy. Bermuda grass requires a half-inch per week in the sun and buffalo grass slightly less.

Time your sprinkler output with several flat sided bowels, tuna cans, Tupperware, etc. to see how long it takes to deliver the amount of water you want. Average the bowels together for each sprinkler for accuracy.

If the soil is really dry, it may be hard for the water to soak in. To keep it from running off, you may need to water half as much, and wait an hour or so to finish watering. It’s better to water in the morning on cool days, and to let the grass go a little dry before watering for disease control. Rohde’s Compost Tea or Rohde’s Foliar Juice can be sprayed as a wetting agent before watering.