Free Mowing tips for Port Charlotte Florida
A client's healthy lawn with one of our trailers as the back drop.
For most Floridians, mowing their lawn is a hassle especially in those hot summer months when it’s wet & humid out, Which is also when the lawn needs the most attention.
The most common mistake I see home owners (and inexperienced lawn service owners) make is improper cutting heights. Many tend to cut their lawn too short to try to make the cut last longer before they need to go out & mow again. This is also called “scalping” the lawn. This not only weakens the turf & it’s roots, but can invite disease & many other problems. A good rule of thumb is you never want to remove more than one third of the blade length in any one mowing.
So, one popular turf type for the area, especially in the upper end neighborhoods of our community like parts of PGI & Deep Creek is St. Augustine grass. These lawns require more attention & irrigation than a common Bahia lawn but offer that thick green carpet look that many desire. St. Augustine should be mowed between 2.5″-4″ in height ( I tend to mow these at higher end of that spectrum by the way) So if you mow at 4″ in height keeping in mind the 1/3 rule, These lawns should be done when they reach about 6″ tall (about every 5-7 days).
On Bahia lawns, optimum cut height height falls in my experience around 3″- 4″ in height. Some say lower than that but I’ve found the ditches, hills, and grade imperfections common to many home lots in our area make this impractical as you end up scalping the higher spots in the grade (look outside, one of your neighbors lawns probably has a bald spot at the crown of his front swale due to just this problem). These lawns can tend to go a little more dormant in the cooler season but actually grow faster during the summer than St. Augustine. They should be done one a 3-7 day interval. I know, that’s a big swing, but some home owners with Bahia lawns want (& have) thick & very healthy lawn when it’s fertilized & properly irrigated. Some other yards are mixed with weeds & the owners don’t really care as long as it’s green.
I service some clients at both ends of this spectrum and offer any number of customizable service plans. When you decide to let a professional take over, give me a call. We can offer a full maintenance package or just simply take care of whatever green stuff happens to grow in your yard! Either way, we’d be happy to serve you.
The following images are borrowed from the University of Florida IFAS Extension Office. One is a great illustration of proper cutting heights for different lawn types. The other displays the drastic difference in root health when you start to mow your lawn at the proper height.
-Chuck Cantasano
AAA Quality Clean Cut, LLC.
http://charlottecountylawns.com
(941) 380-3118