Will you mow when the grass is slightly wet?

[lawn mower fanatic]

Will you mow when the grass is wet from rain--even slightly?? How about if it's a little wet from dew??

a. YES
b. NO

And I have a question: DOES IT PROMOTE DISEASE WHEN YOU CUT THE GRASS WHEN IT'S WET?

 

[Flintmotorsports]

i mow when it is dry it gives it a better cut

 

[metz12]

I agree, it does make a better cut when its dry. but if you need to like if you have a bunch of jobs and you need to start early then its better to go slow if the grass is wet. sometimes if its really soaked ill blow some of it with my leafblower and that makes it a little easier to work with.

 

[Flintmotorsports]

I agree, it does make a better cut when its dry. but if you need to like if you have a bunch of jobs and you need to start early then its better to go slow if the grass is wet. sometimes if its really soaked ill blow some of it with my leafblower and that makes it a little easier to work with.

yes i would agree if you have to mow it you have no choice but to. that is a good idea to leafblow it first it will get the rain/dew off the grass

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

Thanks for the opinions! In the summer, when I start at 7:30, I usually just deal with the wet grass. I would rather deal with wet grass than the heat of the day if I wait till it dries! This past season I used my older mower when it was the most wet, and then started using my new mower once it dried a little bit. That is a good idea about the blower! :thumbsup:

 

[Ric]

Will you mow when the grass is wet from rain--even slightly?? How about if it's a little wet from dew??

a. YES
b. NO

And I have a question: DOES IT PROMOTE DISEASE WHEN YOU CUT THE GRASS WHEN IT'S WET?

In a perfect would, No you shouldn't mow a wet lawn but unfortunately for most we don't live in a perfect world. We start at 7:30am and the grass is wet from dew 98% of the time. As long as the lawn is healthy and you remove no more than 1/3 of the height you shouldn't create any problems, just don't try mowing backwards because you can end up with clumping grass and a plugged deck.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

In a perfect would, No you shouldn't mow a wet lawn but unfortunately for most we don't live in a perfect world. We start at 7:30am and the grass is wet from dew 98% of the time. As long as the lawn is healthy and you remove no more than 1/3 of the height you shouldn't create any problems, just don't try mowing backwards because you can end up with clumping grass and a plugged deck.

Yeah I have experienced that a few times (where it clumps when you go backwards). :thumbdown:

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I know that is what you are supposed to do (cut 1/3 off), but a lot of the time the grass grows so fast in the spring but the customers only wanted it mowed every 7 days, so it would be impossible to cut only 1/3 off, because my mower was at the max height--3 inches (my new HRX goes up to 4 inches--luckily!). But I still will probably have to cut more than 1/3 off a lot of the time because a lawn doesn't look that good cut at 4 inches! So you would not recommend mowing wet grass if you remove more than 1/3 of the grass height?

And I have 2 more questions: :confused2:

• SO MOWING WET GRASS DOESN'T CAUSE DISEASES??
• DOES KEEPING YOUR GRASS TOO LONG OVER WINTER CAUSE DISEASE WHEN IT SNOWS??

Thanks for all your help! :smile:

 

[Ric]

I know that is what you are supposed to do (cut 1/3 off), but a lot of the time the grass grows so fast in the spring but the customers only wanted it mowed every 7 days, so it would be impossible to cut only 1/3 off, because my mower was at the max height--3 inches (my new HRX goes up to 4 inches--luckily!). But I still will probably have to cut more than 1/3 off a lot of the time because a lawn doesn't look that good cut at 4 inches! So you would not recommend mowing wet grass if you remove more than 1/3 of the grass height?

And I have 2 more questions: :confused2:

• SO MOWING WET GRASS DOESN'T CAUSE DISEASES??
• DOES KEEPING YOUR GRASS TOO LONG OVER WINTER CAUSE DISEASE WHEN IT SNOWS??

Thanks for all your help! :smile:

If you're mowing anymore than 1/3 of the height of the grass when it's wet the clippings are more likely to mat together which intern can cause disease that can spread quickly when the grass is wet. Fungi and bacteria love nothing more than water for moving around in.
Number two your mower will most likely not give you an even cut and you may run into the problem of your wheels flattening grass blades, and you may even end up compacting the soil if it's too wet which can effect new grass growth.
One of the Keys to mowing wet grass is having a mower that can cut high (5") so you can adjust for height of the grass and blade tip speed of at least 18k and don't mulch. Yes long grass over the winter can cause I believe what the call snow mold so I wouldn't leave it to high 2 3/4" I would think but that's only a guess. All I have to worry about here is frost so I generally try for 3" to 3 1/2" to protect the root system.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

See where you live you cut it long to prepare for a frost but where I live we cut it short to stun the grass when the frost hits. It's amazing how things vary in different parts of the country. And thanks for the tips!