Ryan, I like your straight-forward presentation. You get right down to the meat of the message, making it easier to follow than the videos that try to entertain. BTW, I'm mowing at about 4" but mowing twice a week if it rains. The lawn is patchy and thatchy thru years of neglect, so what grass to do have, I want it to become strong as I fertilize and mow my way to the fall. Biggest challenge right now is laying down grass seed in the bare spots. Haven't quite got the hang of it. Lawn appears to be bluegrass, tall fescue, and rye. All the best from Iowa.
Glad you enjoyed the video. I have a vid on fixing bare spots in case you haven't seen that yet. Otherwise it sounds like you're on the right track and things will just take some time. Good luck!
Thanks Ryan. I'll look it up. I don't mind the occasional weed. Properly sited, they give the yard an asymmetrical beauty that you can't get if you try to control every plant in your yard. I'm thinking about wild rhubarb in extreme shade and creepy charlie along the rocks. Yards that are too controlled give me a creepy feeling, something like what I get from watching the movie 'The Stepford Wives'. But the bare spots are an insult to my lawn and an offense to god. I'll keep working on them. ruclips.net/video/WoJOS15B-8U/видео.html
Bear in mind too that at a set point a grass type will try to keep going taller and not horizontally. So you end up with grass plants that reach for the sky very well but arent thick, and over time will thin out. Species dependent of course.
The one main thing about lawn heights also come down to the soil type. If you have good topsoil or clay soil that holds moisture mowing tall may hold too much. Here in NJ on my property most of it is sandy soil. Mowing tall at 3-3.5 for PRG it helps keep the littlest amount of moisture the sand holds in. It does fold over sometimes during heavy rain and high traffic, but mostly bounces back without issue only only needs fungus treatment if we get a lot of evening or night rains. We do have to water every other day during summer as it does dry quickly if we dont get rain. Spring and fall I usually get by with water once every 3-4 days. Our yard is high traffic and we are on it every day, so the taller grass helps with cushioning the root stems also.
So from my experience when the weather is cooler and wetter I generally mow my yards shorter and when it gets hotter and dryer I raise it. So in general i cut at 3.5 in in spring and raise it it 4in in the hottest months of the . This seems to help keep the grass dryer in the spring but in the summer it helps retain more moisture and encourages the grass to thicken. Then when fall comes around I drop the height back down to 3.5in to help keep leaves from sticking in the grass it also helps with keeping winter mildew from forming over the winter
Tyrrell Roach I think this is the winning approach. 4” especially with new grass is... too tall imo. It looks like if you feed new grass and stress it with cutting, you can force wider growth earlier. Definitely giving it a shot because I’m not liking the tall, thin stuff.
Smart. I wish more ppl could see that switch when spring pops to summer and rain isn't aplenty... and learn to raise the blade at that point. Glad to see someone else gets it 😎
This is why the Wisconsin extension says to go 2.5-3 during the spring/early summer. Once the rainy season passes, you raise it to 3-4 for the dry part of the summer to protect it from the heat. Then late fall, you drop it back down.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care I shoot for 3.5 with my kbg. If I have a party with lots of foot traffic I'll rake or blow it to get it to stand back up before mowing.
Its all just an experiment. My bluegrass section is in good sun, but it IS on the shadier side. I let it go long in the spring and then bring it down to about three in the summer once it has thickened up. I can do that because it doesn't get baked out. In my full sun areas, I run a standard northern mix like "Hardy" or "High traffic". I read the labels to make sure it is more bluegrass/rye than tall fescue, and I let that grow to the top height of my mower. very little fungus problems in that baking sun.
Agree completely. 3.5” works great for me most of the time. Unfortunately weather recently forced me to mow at 4” because it’s rained so much the last two weeks the lawn got out of control. I actually had to bag my clippings at 4” just so I wouldn’t leave clumps... kids playing in yard yesterday and you can see where it’s laying over. Hopefully in the next week I can get it back to 3.5”
Likewise. Wife and kids complain my fescue is too tall (4"). I mowed the back at 3.25" last week but we got tons of rain so I had to mow at 4" again. My backyard also tends to hold a little more water and can get rather swampy at times. When I mowed shorter I too noticed a little bit of the same fungus Ryan is seeing. I might have to cave into the wife and mow the backyard shorter.
I used to cut my Kentucky bluegrass at 6 inches, which is my highest mower setting. Yes, it looked good but I had the same problem. The grass turned moldy in some areas and I eventually had snow mold. I gradually went down to around 3-3.5 inches. The grass has been doing well and drying up in a good way so no moisture gets trapped for mold.
My backyard grass is loving being mowed at 4 inches. Even with the excessive rain it’s thriving!!! The front on the other hand has had a few hiccups. But I am staying Tall!
I'm mowing my KBG/Tall fescue mix at 4.75" - 5" tall and the lawn looks amazing. Yes I've also slit seeded and fertilized on a regular program so I have a fairly thick lawn without any issues so far * knock on wood*. The only thing I've done different this spring so far is I've had to bag my grass due to the amount of rain we've had and my work schedule not allowing me to get free time on the sunny days, normally I always mulch. 4" looked great in my yard, but that extra bit of length sure gets noticed by my neighbors and people passing by, etc!.
That was interesting !!!! I live outside of Atlanta , my soil has a lot of red clay , last October I prepped a large area , limed , added top soil and planted Pennington signature blend fescue .after 4 weeks it started coming in beautiful . The nursery told me to use triple 10 to start and then again every 6 weeks until March , I did and it was beautiful , we have had a very wet summer , wetter than I can remember , it started yellowing , the brown , and now about 95% gone .The nursery told me to aerate , Lime and reseed again in October . I was mowing weekly and bagging with a rider mower , I think it hurt the grass . Next time I plan on mowing the newer grass with my push mower and mulching ??? It really looked great , now its as bad as before , fescue is hard to get established , but I have too many trees and shade for any type sod .Thanks for the tips !!!!!!
Sounds a lot like fungus crept in and took over . With wet conditions and humid conditions like you have, that is very typical. Good luck with the new stuff!
I have been mowing taller in my location because we have been very dry. Should be good to get down to 3" now because it finally rained, & might continnue to rain for the next few days.... i am very happy it's raining here because, we need that miosture😄
For the first time, I've been cutting my turf type tall fescue mixed with KB at 4 inches. Man does it look "green", and the taller blades show more green. Harder to walk on, and when I do cut it, some of it does lay over to the point the blades don't reach it all. Much rain in Michigan this year is making the lawn look wonderful. But perhaps I should cut it lower to minimize any fungus. I do not water the lawn as we're on 4 acres. I do a Prodiamine preemergent, and follow up later with Tenacity. Question: What type of grass is really fine like child's hair? My lawn in the back of property has some really fine blades. Thank you. THUMBS UP!!!
I kept hearing cut it tall since getting more into lawn care this year. This was a great video to bring it back down to reality, as tall as possible is not always best. Now that the summer heat is over i'm starting to notice the grass folded over more and not getting a great cut...also, this bentgrass has started to takeover spreading out underneath and even Tenacity is no match when the long grass is hiding it all below Thanks for the awesome content!
You can mow it tall. Just not too tall for your variety. What do you have in your lawn now? Generally I mow all my accounts to 3 1/2" (cool season grasses) except those that are purely TTTF. Those I will mow to 3 1/2 but some folks have a LOT of lawn, and the areas further away from anything important get cut higher. Some lawns have a fantastic KGB and Rye mix, around pools, patios, etc I will mow those to 3" when conditions allow. Rarely do I go to 2 1/2, but I do for the right area/conditions/and ofc $$
I’ve always told people 3.5-4” on lawns with little to no traffic, however, if there is traffic (such as kids), 2.5-3”. I personally find my lawn to be best at 3”, but do mow at 2.5” if I expect a lot of traffic. My lawn is a KBG/Perennial Rye mix.
Great videos Ryan! If it were me, starting next spring, I would start lowering it down to, and then maintain your lawn at 1-1/4" height. I realize that sounds extreme, but here is my reasoning: At 1-1/4" the lawn is much more inviting and usable to you and your family than the approximately current HOC of 4". It is also more asthiticaly pleasing at 1-1/4". The extension service recommends HOC'S of around 4" for the low maintenance. But for someone that puts in the work that you do on your lawn, I feel that 4" HOC is inappropriate. E.g., when is the last time you've seen a fairway mowed at 4". Oh, and most importantly, GO VIKES!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You'll probably be interested to find I'm working on my front/side yard at between 3/4" - 1" right now and love that low cut look with a reel mower. The backyard here in this video I didn't keep this tall as it just didn't work out at that height, but I am going to train it a bit lower next year to try to get things in order there too. My grass is elite bluegrass that really was bred for a lower cut so I've run into some issues trying to push the height. Skol!!
I tried letting my kbg hangout around 4in early last year but quickly decided I didn’t like the look of it at that length. I’ve since been hovering between 2.75 and 3.25 depending on the time of year. I think it looks best around that range. Long enough to get good stripes but not too long where the mower isn’t getting good suction, and long enough to be more draught resistant since I have no in ground irrigation, but short enough to get more airflow to dry out and lessen chances of fungus . 👍
I actually have the same problems with my Fescue and have toyed with the idea of mowing lower, but then I remember how bumpy sections of my lawn are.. It's a little bit less of an issue with the Timemaster than it was with the Honda, but still can run into issues with cutting too short in areas. As happy as I am that it's warm again, I'm looking forward to fall to start trying to get my lawn leveled out a bit.
I think this is the issue I am having. I mow at the 2nd highest level on my mower. I am going to lower it to the next level to see if the grass recovers.
I have the same problem, I just rake it out every other weekend or so, and its been fine. At first I thought I had clumping fescue, but after I started running my fingers through it I noticed it was just the KBG and fescue all tangled together, so I took a thaching rake to it and got it separated, so far so good as long as I keep up on the raking.
Live in Des Moines, as well. Just noticed my lawn having the same problem this past weekend. Small fungus spots, also have a timemaster and mow at highest setting. Will have to think about lowering it. Deciding now what I want to put on the fungus so it does not spread.
Ditto. I believe i still have some spectracide fungus control spray I might hit it with. It works for me last year when I had a little blight on my front yard. It's got Propiconazole in it. amzn.to/2IW5g6p
Ryan nice video but there is one factor you might not have considered. If you continue to mow higher, say 3.5 or 4 inches, your KBG will become stiffer and will adjust to the new height. I can't say this is true for all varieties but that is what I was told and it is what happened to my lawn after mowing at 4 inches for a couple of seasons. More recently I have had some fungus problems that I haven't solved yet so I'm cutting at 3.5 now. I tried 3.0 last month but it felt like I was scalping my lawn lol! I agree that it doesn't make sense to mow very high if there is a dwarf type variety mixed in. Anyway, good job.
I agree for some varieties it definitely would adjust. I experimented with one section of my yard this year and left it at 4 inches. It just does not adjust and was laying over and looking really shaggy. So I think with the specific type I have it doesn't work all the well but I've pushed my main backyard to around 3.5 and it's for sure at max height there.
I understand, but in my case it took a good two years before the grass stood straight up at 4". I'm mowing a bit lower not to try and troubleshoot a fungus problem I've been having. Maybe 4" is too much of a good thing even if you can eventually train it to stand up.
I always go for 3 inches on my homestead but I do really like 2 1/2. Looks great and the grass took it extremely well. Problem is we are getting closer to hotter weather so I'm just going to stay at 3 till fall.
Some thing happened to me. I was mowing talk to hide the uneven ground and it wound up turning yellow. I worked my way down to 2.75” over the course of a summer and it Greened up nicely
Yep, here in Ohio, I mow my KBG lawn at 3" as well. I think it looks better, the KGB can handle it no problem (in fact, less issues as you point out) and it helps to keep voles from building their runways through the grass. Less ability for them to stay away from their natural predators.
jOE Marchand unfortunately, yes. Voles never really leave. Right now, they have set up shop in my front yard right along my edged sidewalk. Traps have been out the last two nights. 2 for 2 so far but I suspect there are at least 5 more still causing havoc.
Ryan, interesting, I have had similar issues with my northern mix flopping over / smothering when HOC exceeds 3.25". The irony of it is, I love the look at 3.75-4.25", and would prefer to cut at those heights, but the mix of grasses I have do not allow for it. I've been tempted to nuke the yard and start over with a pure TTTF stand so I can cut at 4.25", but I'm going to work with what I've got for the time being, so a 3.25" max cut in summer, 2.25" during cooler periods of the year. Reel mowing is out for now until I do the leveling (10,000 sq ft :-)
Bagging will also help. I usually bag the first couple mows and last couple. So far im still bagging because of how much rain we've been getting and got the mower at bout 3"
I always felt that keeping it too long or too short might or could cause some problems. Keeping to long causes the bottom to stay moist and may take longer to dry out which causes mold and break down of the grass leaves. Too short with very hot climate will cause the grass to dry out quickly and can kill the top and upper roots. Keeping the grass around 3" is a reasonable length to maintain. Strips is beautiful but it does not make the grass grow upright and natural. You're forcing it down and not making the leaf grow the proper way. Though, I do strip my lawn but will be switching back and forth from strips to no strips. The whole idea is to pay attention to the growth and cut often when needed.
I finally raise my cut height to maximum (4plus) on my snapper and now I’m seeing this lol. Majority of my yard is converted to KBG from overseeding last few years. Going High this year as a test for even better weed control. But you got me thinking as usual
Mowing it slightly lower isn't going to hurt it and to be honest, bluegrass still struggles in the major heat no matter if it was one in taller or not.
Just like Ryan said mowing a little lower will still keep weed pressure down. For reference I mow between 2.75-3.25 but I mow every 3 days. My kbg has gotten ridiculously thick and there is now virtually no weed pressure
Thanks for both your advice. I just attached my striping kit and it almost blocks the adjustment levers on the rear wheels but I think I can drop it at least one notch.
Look for a comb for your lawn before you mow could fix the problem, i have Penncross Bentgrass growing as a normal lawn I want to keep it at a height of 4 inches, it's a very small piece of land somewhat a joke but all I have to work with in the front of my house and a very small plot of dirt with a tree in it.
Ryan (or anyone else) - do you have a general rule of thumb for when to bag grass clippings or when to leave them mulched on the lawn? Just dethatched yesterday (I'm near Chicago) for the first time (in 5+ years) and your videos are awesome! Great content!
I usually just bag if I need the grass clippings for something else (like my wife's garden) or if there's some kind of fungus. Also first and last mows of the year tend to be bagged just to make sure everything looks clean. From there it's just up to you. Most people will mulch and that's good for the lawn too.
Ryan I love your videos. Thank you so much. I especially appreciate that you live in Minnesota! :) I was wondering if you have any tips or videos for those of us with hilly lawns. Is there anything different we should keep in mind when mowing or doing general lawn care? Thanks!
Glad you like the videos. I grew up in MN but actually live in Central Iowa now. I'll always be a Minnesotan though as you can tell from my attire. I wouldn't say anything specific for hills just be more cautious with mowing and slopes. I have a pretty steep hill on the edge of my backyard so I know how it's kind of a pain to deal with.
Experiencing the same exact thing this year. Had to cut it a bit higher because of all the rain and trying to adhere to the 1/3rd rule. Knocked it down to about 3”. Going to bring it back up to 3 1/2 and get some color back.
We use to have Kentucky Blue and it makes for a great looking lawn as long as we got sufficient rain and optimum temps. But it was a difficult task to keep it nice looking when the rains cut off and mid summer heat began. You could tell it was dying for water, because it would start turning grey. We would cut it at approx. 3+ inches. Any shorter and it would die out. However, in optimal conditions, it would get so thick that we would get a fungus in certain areas of the yard, depending on how much sun it got. To make a long story short, I just finally gave up on Blue and went with tall fescue. Its hardier and doesnt have the fungus problems. Still dont see how you manage to cut yours so short.
It's really interesting to hear this take. I've had the complete opposite experience. Central Jersey, zone 7a (northern most tip of transition zone). I find the specific cultivar of KBG in my yard to have 0 disease pressure, whereas the various TTTF mixes in my yard get diseased every single summer. From the watering perspective, if I keep the KBG at ~3" in summer, it handles dry spells as well as my TTTF. They are even at best, I might even give the KBG a slight edge there. Again, this could be KBG cultivar specific. Based on how mine responds to summer stress, it must be more suited for it than some of the other KBG cultivars out there. Since they are even on water for me, and KBG gets 0 disease pressure, I'm likely going to renovate with all KBG at some point in the future. I'm curious, which growing zone are you in?
Maybe the moldy kbg is more related to being wet than being too long. The stepped on KBG doesn't reach for the sunlight and straighten out a little? Id figure a way to keep it long every 2 mow or something.
When you showed the tall fescue part, I saw some grasses have seeds on it. I have the similar grass in my lawn. It drives me crazy in hot season to see that section growing with a lot of seeds. Are they weeds?
+Ryan knorr I'm having the same exact issue right now but with my fescue. I've been at 4" and then we got almost a week straight of rain here in Northern Virginia and my beautiful lush green lawn now has a bunch of gray spots. So now I have to invest in a $80 bag of Headway fungicide. Hopefully that'll rectify the situation.
Yeah the lawn sometimes has a mind of its own and even our best plans don't turn out how we had hoped. But the great thing is most situations can be fixed and in the end, things are back to normal.
Ryan, 4 is a bit to tall for KBG, I’ve found that 3.5 yields best results for fat stacking...have you thought about maybe doing some sort of stepping stones to get to the garden? It saves on crown twisting..2 cents
Ryan, so are you concerned about going down to 3" during the hot season and losing some of your heat resistance or weed resistance? I thought it was a good idea to grow a little longer in hot summer and lower in spring and fall. This is assuming cold season grasses.
I wouldn't be concerned with 3 inches but if you can go higher and get the grass to stand up well then that's fine too. I'm mowing part of my lawn at .75" right now and it's going to be 100 for the next few days. Fun stuff!
@@ryanknorrlawncare Cool. I am noticing my grass is also laying to one side in some areas and my Toro isn't strong enough to suction it up at 4" tall. Think I'll go back to 3" for the rest of the season and see what happens.
There is definitely a fine line between tall & healthy and a tall icky mess. I say find your sweet spot then depending on seasons and conditions you can fluctuate .5” either way but seldom does any more then that work out well.
I cut my grass on the shortest setting 1 inch in the spring and leave the grass clippings on the lawn and in the mid summer onward I let it grow to 6 inches high before cutting it to 3 inches in late summer and leave grass clippings on lawn. In fall I cut grass 3 inches and bag the grass clippings and leaves
I’ve been mowing at 4” all year. It was great but now in late summer, it’s not doing well. It looks like fungus and some is still matted down. I just mowed it down to 3.5” but not a lot of improvement. Any ideas on bringing it back to life? Rake, de-thatch, cut lower? Thanks
What may cause my lawn to rise? It's now higher than my cement patio. St augustine has also creeped into my yard and is replacing my 25 year old marathon sod.
I was wondering if can help me with my lawn I live in Southern California and I have Marathon fescue grass sod but have brown patches what should I do with that??in how to cover them up should I reseed them
its interesting to see which videos attract views....for example the rolling video has 90k views but the swardman is only 10k.....must be some search keyword function
How tall is too tall? I have always cut my lawns on the max height setting of whichever mower I use. I used to use a Scag 48" walkbehind, but had to sell it to move cross country and now I use an el-cheapo 21" push mower. My old yard was what I think is "sheep fescue," a very tall wispy grass that if left alone would get like 12+ inches long and flop over on the ground and blow in the breeze. I cut it at about 4.5" I think and it was the most lush green lawn I've ever had, grew faster than I could cut it and never needed to water it once in 4 years. Current yard is Kentucky Bluegrass and I'm cutting it at 3" because that's the max height on my push mower. The lawn seems to be sparsely planted with grass, if you look straight down you can see a good area of dirt between each clump of grass (why is it growing in clumps anyways?!). This new lawn requires tons of water and is kinda frustrating to deal with. Worms have made thousands of castings piles that make it painful to walk and even kinda dangerous because you can roll your ankle on them if you're not careful. Never had the worm problem before either, and my last yard had the MOST earthworms I've ever seen in on place yet they never made one single casting pile. So instead of my beautiful lush thick smooth green lawn I remember, now I've got a thin, tan/light green, bumpy mess. Currently in east central Nebraska. Would killing the Bluegrass and seeding with Buffalograss be better or fix any of my problems? Should I keep the lawn mowed shorter, do you think that would discourage the worms from making such large piles? Some of the piles are well over an inch tall, some are just shy of 2".
When you talked about your tall fescue at minute 3:50 I noticed you have those little plants mixed in with the turf (I’m sure they have a name). Are those weeds or what exactly are those? And how can I get rid of them? I have thick tall fescue lawn and I’m currently dealing with those, it’s driving me nuts! And btw I just purchased the Honda HRX217HYA and it’s amazing with the suction power, I highly recommend it. I’m sure it would solve your problem, it lifts the turf and seems to cut it very well and evenly.
Very informative video Ryan like always talking about fungus I plan on putting granular grub control down in mid-june can I also put a granular fungicide down on the same day but separate applications
Best thing you can first do is search your area and with the tag "grass types" in google - that will give you a good starting point and otherwise find a local extension office for your area. They are experts in grass/plants/trees of your specific area.
I have a question for you. I know you're wife does organic gardening, what do think of "lawn tea". Would you be opposed to trying to make some and trying it? Behind the fence maybe? I have been thinking about it more and more. Milo starts to get expensive when you buy 6 bags every 4 weeks or so.
This is an old video but I’m having the same issue with my st aug. before the rain storm it was thick and beautiful at 4”. I’m thinking of taking down to 2” 2.5 because it’s staying too damp at 3”-4” at least for now during this rainy season.
Id try using different blades with better lift then, not all mowers and blades act the same so it could just be from the mower being ineffective at that height and not the grass having an issue with being that tall. Highlift or gator blades are a must imo for that situation. Idk what your running /?
It would be interesting to see how a stand on would do if there would be any change, ive bumped up all my lawns to 3.5,3.75 and a few @ 4 and they look so much better than before. We have had a bunch of rain so ive tried to keep things a little shorter but now its drying back out and bumping it back up to normal seems to be doing the trick. Might try doing the same back to 3 or 3.25 or lower while its that moist then raising it once the moisture levels drop down. I think that would make a big difference for ya.
I have KBG myself and was thinking of lowering it back down as well. I'm at 4", I don't think it looks good tall. I was thinking about changing over to Fescue, need to research to see if it will be a good fit here in Detroit.
Hi Ryan, I have a newly established lawn here in the UK (6 weeks since laying turf) , I believe the grass is cool season - perennial ryegrass) over in a shaded corner there are several spots like the ones you describe in this video, I assume here its from being shaded and damp and being trodden on, is there anything I need to do to stop the fungus or repair these small areas? Or should I just reduce the cutting length overall? Thank you for the awesome videos!
Shaded areas are prone to this because they don't dry out as well. I would probably use a fungicide on those areas if you can to prevent further damage from fungus and cut a little lower there to help things dry out.
I'm in Wisconsin and cut mine at 4 for the first time last week. I don't really like it because it looks like it needs to be cut instantly already lol. Shorter it is the cleaner it looks in my eyes
Poa annua seeds are more whitish and they tend to have an alternating left to right stems off to each side. Fescue seeds are more vertical and stick close to center.
Your little spots? It’s called dollar spot... Schlerotinia homeocarpa. You can cut your turf all the way down to a golf green’s height... and it’s still a problem.
I'm starting to see this issue with St. Augustine with all this recent rain. ie. Some yellowing and the grass not standing up. I've been mowing to 4 inches. I think I'm going to bring it down to 3.5 or 3. Any suggestions on that one?
I like to bring it down to the level with it can stand up on its own otherwise it not only looks messy to me, but you can have some issues like I show here.
Well Kentucky Blue Grass is the worst for traffic !! Then you have two varieties that as you proved don’t belong together. During rainy season you can get away with a little shorter , but definitely in hot summer and dry times you want it long !! Your issue is from the two varieties being together and walked on. I’m a fescue fan myself. Tall , green , drought tolerant , and excellent for traffic. But you have a beautiful lawn !! Just going to have to stay off it !!
If I had to do it all over again I would have hand picked the varieties but unfortunately it was done by a local company just using a pre-determined mix.That was years ago when I didn't have any knowledge of lawn care. Fescue has advantages but personally I like the thin blade look of bluegrass. Just my preference but cutting a little shorter is the answer. It doesn't do well in heat in general but that is what it is.
Hey Ryan, I noticed some seed pods when you showed your tall fescue. I have the same in my yard when I go 3-4 days without mowing and I was curious as to what it was. Are those seed pods from tall fescue, and if so, is that common throughout the growing season?
So what did you do about the lawn
So far cutting it a little shorter and monitoring if it's getting any worse. Could hit spray it with something like this - amzn.to/2s5GnL6
I’m starting to get concerned with the speed at which I’m watching lawn care videos upon their release.
That's never a problem!
I would be worried if I was you.
Right there with you! My wife is much more concerned!
I've been known to watch at a 1.5 playback speed..... I'm so ashamed.
If you think you have a problem on release. I get notifications LOL. LCN, Connor Ward, Ryan Knorr and Jake the Lawn kid and some others. Holy Cow!
Ryan, I like your straight-forward presentation. You get right down to the meat of the message, making it easier to follow than the videos that try to entertain. BTW, I'm mowing at about 4" but mowing twice a week if it rains. The lawn is patchy and thatchy thru years of neglect, so what grass to do have, I want it to become strong as I fertilize and mow my way to the fall. Biggest challenge right now is laying down grass seed in the bare spots. Haven't quite got the hang of it. Lawn appears to be bluegrass, tall fescue, and rye. All the best from Iowa.
Glad you enjoyed the video. I have a vid on fixing bare spots in case you haven't seen that yet. Otherwise it sounds like you're on the right track and things will just take some time. Good luck!
Thanks Ryan. I'll look it up. I don't mind the occasional weed. Properly sited, they give the yard an asymmetrical beauty that you can't get if you try to control every plant in your yard. I'm thinking about wild rhubarb in extreme shade and creepy charlie along the rocks. Yards that are too controlled give me a creepy feeling, something like what I get from watching the movie 'The Stepford Wives'. But the bare spots are an insult to my lawn and an offense to god. I'll keep working on them. ruclips.net/video/WoJOS15B-8U/видео.html
Bear in mind too that at a set point a grass type will try to keep going taller and not horizontally. So you end up with grass plants that reach for the sky very well but arent thick, and over time will thin out. Species dependent of course.
The one main thing about lawn heights also come down to the soil type. If you have good topsoil or clay soil that holds moisture mowing tall may hold too much. Here in NJ on my property most of it is sandy soil. Mowing tall at 3-3.5 for PRG it helps keep the littlest amount of moisture the sand holds in. It does fold over sometimes during heavy rain and high traffic, but mostly bounces back without issue only only needs fungus treatment if we get a lot of evening or night rains. We do have to water every other day during summer as it does dry quickly if we dont get rain. Spring and fall I usually get by with water once every 3-4 days. Our yard is high traffic and we are on it every day, so the taller grass helps with cushioning the root stems also.
So from my experience when the weather is cooler and wetter I generally mow my yards shorter and when it gets hotter and dryer I raise it. So in general i cut at 3.5 in in spring and raise it it 4in in the hottest months of the . This seems to help keep the grass dryer in the spring but in the summer it helps retain more moisture and encourages the grass to thicken. Then when fall comes around I drop the height back down to 3.5in to help keep leaves from sticking in the grass it also helps with keeping winter mildew from forming over the winter
Tyrrell Roach I think this is the winning approach. 4” especially with new grass is... too tall imo. It looks like if you feed new grass and stress it with cutting, you can force wider growth earlier.
Definitely giving it a shot because I’m not liking the tall, thin stuff.
Good tip. I always mow at 3", but only because that's as high as mine goes! 😄
Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.
I mow low (3") early in the year when it's wet and move to (4") before it gets hot in the middle of summer.
Smart. I wish more ppl could see that switch when spring pops to summer and rain isn't aplenty... and learn to raise the blade at that point.
Glad to see someone else gets it 😎
2.5 on the spring 3.5 on summer and 3 in fall
This is why the Wisconsin extension says to go 2.5-3 during the spring/early summer. Once the rainy season passes, you raise it to 3-4 for the dry part of the summer to protect it from the heat. Then late fall, you drop it back down.
My only issue is it just doesn't want to stand up very well at 4 inches in the summer either. We'll see what happens but I'm going back down now. :)
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care I shoot for 3.5 with my kbg. If I have a party with lots of foot traffic I'll rake or blow it to get it to stand back up before mowing.
Its all just an experiment. My bluegrass section is in good sun, but it IS on the shadier side. I let it go long in the spring and then bring it down to about three in the summer once it has thickened up. I can do that because it doesn't get baked out. In my full sun areas, I run a standard northern mix like "Hardy" or "High traffic". I read the labels to make sure it is more bluegrass/rye than tall fescue, and I let that grow to the top height of my mower. very little fungus problems in that baking sun.
Agree completely. 3.5” works great for me most of the time. Unfortunately weather recently forced me to mow at 4” because it’s rained so much the last two weeks the lawn got out of control. I actually had to bag my clippings at 4” just so I wouldn’t leave clumps... kids playing in yard yesterday and you can see where it’s laying over. Hopefully in the next week I can get it back to 3.5”
I hear ya on the growth. Mine has been growing insanely fast.
Only problem I have with mowing tall, my wife complains the grass is too tall!
That too. Ours dogs have never liked it.
Likewise. Wife and kids complain my fescue is too tall (4"). I mowed the back at 3.25" last week but we got tons of rain so I had to mow at 4" again.
My backyard also tends to hold a little more water and can get rather swampy at times. When I mowed shorter I too noticed a little bit of the same fungus Ryan is seeing. I might have to cave into the wife and mow the backyard shorter.
my wife does too.
Holy crap all these comments are 6 years old! Hope all of you still have a good marriage.
I used to cut my Kentucky bluegrass at 6 inches, which is my highest mower setting. Yes, it looked good but I had the same problem. The grass turned moldy in some areas and I eventually had snow mold. I gradually went down to around 3-3.5 inches. The grass has been doing well and drying up in a good way so no moisture gets trapped for mold.
My backyard grass is loving being mowed at 4 inches. Even with the excessive rain it’s thriving!!! The front on the other hand has had a few hiccups. But I am staying Tall!
I also have the same results. The KBG loves the 4 inch cut. Its my favorite grass.
I'm mowing my KBG/Tall fescue mix at 4.75" - 5" tall and the lawn looks amazing. Yes I've also slit seeded and fertilized on a regular program so I have a fairly thick lawn without any issues so far * knock on wood*. The only thing I've done different this spring so far is I've had to bag my grass due to the amount of rain we've had and my work schedule not allowing me to get free time on the sunny days, normally I always mulch. 4" looked great in my yard, but that extra bit of length sure gets noticed by my neighbors and people passing by, etc!.
Mixed with tall fescue is helping you a lot there. Bluegrass that tall just looks really shaggy by itself (just my opinion) but to each their own.
That was interesting !!!! I live outside of Atlanta , my soil has a lot of red clay , last October I prepped a large area , limed , added top soil and planted Pennington signature blend fescue .after 4 weeks it started coming in beautiful . The nursery told me to use triple 10 to start and then again every 6 weeks until March , I did and it was beautiful , we have had a very wet summer , wetter than I can remember , it started yellowing , the brown , and now about 95% gone .The nursery told me to aerate , Lime and reseed again in October . I was mowing weekly and bagging with a rider mower , I think it hurt the grass . Next time I plan on mowing the newer grass with my push mower and mulching ??? It really looked great , now its as bad as before , fescue is hard to get established , but I have too many trees and shade for any type sod .Thanks for the tips !!!!!!
Sounds a lot like fungus crept in and took over . With wet conditions and humid conditions like you have, that is very typical. Good luck with the new stuff!
I have been mowing taller in my location because we have been very dry. Should be good to get down to 3" now because it finally rained, & might continnue to rain for the next few days.... i am very happy it's raining here because, we need that miosture😄
For the first time, I've been cutting my turf type tall fescue mixed with KB at 4 inches. Man does it look "green", and the taller blades show more green. Harder to walk on, and when I do cut it, some of it does lay over to the point the blades don't reach it all. Much rain in Michigan this year is making the lawn look wonderful. But perhaps I should cut it lower to minimize any fungus. I do not water the lawn as we're on 4 acres. I do a Prodiamine preemergent, and follow up later with Tenacity. Question: What type of grass is really fine like child's hair? My lawn in the back of property has some really fine blades. Thank you. THUMBS UP!!!
I kept hearing cut it tall since getting more into lawn care this year. This was a great video to bring it back down to reality, as tall as possible is not always best. Now that the summer heat is over i'm starting to notice the grass folded over more and not getting a great cut...also, this bentgrass has started to takeover spreading out underneath and even Tenacity is no match when the long grass is hiding it all below
Thanks for the awesome content!
Glad to help! I'll be taking my bluegrass to 2.5" or so very soon.
You can mow it tall. Just not too tall for your variety. What do you have in your lawn now?
Generally I mow all my accounts to 3 1/2" (cool season grasses) except those that are purely TTTF. Those I will mow to 3 1/2 but some folks have a LOT of lawn, and the areas further away from anything important get cut higher. Some lawns have a fantastic KGB and Rye mix, around pools, patios, etc I will mow those to 3" when conditions allow. Rarely do I go to 2 1/2, but I do for the right area/conditions/and ofc $$
Go shopping!
Get an Exmark accessory!
The front mount push dethatcher.
It's not a great Thatcher but it is an awesome lawn comb and striper.
I have an old John Deere one mounted on half inch longer shoulder bolts to the front of my HRX.
I’ve always told people 3.5-4” on lawns with little to no traffic, however, if there is traffic (such as kids), 2.5-3”. I personally find my lawn to be best at 3”, but do mow at 2.5” if I expect a lot of traffic. My lawn is a KBG/Perennial Rye mix.
Good vid. I had well and irrigation issues so i was mowing crazy tall for years and my yard thinned out for sure
Great videos Ryan!
If it were me, starting next spring, I would start lowering it down to, and then maintain your lawn at 1-1/4" height. I realize that sounds extreme, but here is my reasoning:
At 1-1/4" the lawn is much more inviting and usable to you and your family than the approximately current HOC of 4". It is also more asthiticaly pleasing at 1-1/4".
The extension service recommends HOC'S of around 4" for the low maintenance. But for someone that puts in the work that you do on your lawn, I feel that 4" HOC is inappropriate. E.g., when is the last time you've seen a fairway mowed at 4".
Oh, and most importantly, GO VIKES!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You'll probably be interested to find I'm working on my front/side yard at between 3/4" - 1" right now and love that low cut look with a reel mower. The backyard here in this video I didn't keep this tall as it just didn't work out at that height, but I am going to train it a bit lower next year to try to get things in order there too. My grass is elite bluegrass that really was bred for a lower cut so I've run into some issues trying to push the height. Skol!!
I tried letting my kbg hangout around 4in early last year but quickly decided I didn’t like the look of it at that length. I’ve since been hovering between 2.75 and 3.25 depending on the time of year. I think it looks best around that range. Long enough to get good stripes but not too long where the mower isn’t getting good suction, and long enough to be more draught resistant since I have no in ground irrigation, but short enough to get more airflow to dry out and lessen chances of fungus . 👍
Perfect plan and what I will be sticking to from now on as well. :)
I actually have the same problems with my Fescue and have toyed with the idea of mowing lower, but then I remember how bumpy sections of my lawn are.. It's a little bit less of an issue with the Timemaster than it was with the Honda, but still can run into issues with cutting too short in areas. As happy as I am that it's warm again, I'm looking forward to fall to start trying to get my lawn leveled out a bit.
Fall is my favorite season by far.
I think this is the issue I am having. I mow at the 2nd highest level on my mower. I am going to lower it to the next level to see if the grass recovers.
Same problem I have rn. I was cutting around 3.5 to 3 now I’m going about 2.75 or 2.50
I used to cut my grass at 4" because it is so uneven. Ended up with bald spots from the dogs. Cutting at 2" helped alot but may go lower this year.
I have the same problem, I just rake it out every other weekend or so, and its been fine. At first I thought I had clumping fescue, but after I started running my fingers through it I noticed it was just the KBG and fescue all tangled together, so I took a thaching rake to it and got it separated, so far so good as long as I keep up on the raking.
Live in Des Moines, as well. Just noticed my lawn having the same problem this past weekend. Small fungus spots, also have a timemaster and mow at highest setting. Will have to think about lowering it. Deciding now what I want to put on the fungus so it does not spread.
Ditto. I believe i still have some spectracide fungus control spray I might hit it with. It works for me last year when I had a little blight on my front yard. It's got Propiconazole in it. amzn.to/2IW5g6p
Happy Monday! Hope you guys have a good week
Same to you!
Same issue here my kids played with the water hose and messed up the lawn yesterday.
Dangit!
This is interesting stuff. I haven't run into fungus problems but I live in a pretty dry area with low humidity.
That will also play into it for sure. It's often very warm and humid here in the warmer parts of the year so a perfect recipe for fungus.
I have the same problems mine doesn’t grow even. Some spots hardly grow and some grow a lot longer. I also blame the weed & feed I used
You should put in a walkway
Maybe someday.
Ryan nice video but there is one factor you might not have considered. If you continue to mow higher, say 3.5 or 4 inches, your KBG will become stiffer and will adjust to the new height. I can't say this is true for all varieties but that is what I was told and it is what happened to my lawn after mowing at 4 inches for a couple of seasons. More recently I have had some fungus problems that I haven't solved yet so I'm cutting at 3.5 now. I tried 3.0 last month but it felt like I was scalping my lawn lol! I agree that it doesn't make sense to mow very high if there is a dwarf type variety mixed in. Anyway, good job.
I agree for some varieties it definitely would adjust. I experimented with one section of my yard this year and left it at 4 inches. It just does not adjust and was laying over and looking really shaggy. So I think with the specific type I have it doesn't work all the well but I've pushed my main backyard to around 3.5 and it's for sure at max height there.
I understand, but in my case it took a good two years before the grass stood straight up at 4". I'm mowing a bit lower not to try and troubleshoot a fungus problem I've been having. Maybe 4" is too much of a good thing even if you can eventually train it to stand up.
Also some mower have the lift to pull that grass up...so it is also dependent on your equipment
I always go for 3 inches on my homestead but I do really like 2 1/2. Looks great and the grass took it extremely well. Problem is we are getting closer to hotter weather so I'm just going to stay at 3 till fall.
Yes the heat is a major bummer. If we could get rid of that I would be totally fine with it.
Some thing happened to me. I was mowing talk to hide the uneven ground and it wound up turning yellow. I worked my way down to 2.75” over the course of a summer and it Greened up nicely
Yep, here in Ohio, I mow my KBG lawn at 3" as well. I think it looks better, the KGB can handle it no problem (in fact, less issues as you point out) and it helps to keep voles from building their runways through the grass. Less ability for them to stay away from their natural predators.
jOE Marchand unfortunately, yes. Voles never really leave. Right now, they have set up shop in my front yard right along my edged sidewalk. Traps have been out the last two nights. 2 for 2 so far but I suspect there are at least 5 more still causing havoc.
Ryan, interesting, I have had similar issues with my northern mix flopping over / smothering when HOC exceeds 3.25". The irony of it is, I love the look at 3.75-4.25", and would prefer to cut at those heights, but the mix of grasses I have do not allow for it. I've been tempted to nuke the yard and start over with a pure TTTF stand so I can cut at 4.25", but I'm going to work with what I've got for the time being, so a 3.25" max cut in summer, 2.25" during cooler periods of the year. Reel mowing is out for now until I do the leveling (10,000 sq ft :-)
Bagging will also help. I usually bag the first couple mows and last couple. So far im still bagging because of how much rain we've been getting and got the mower at bout 3"
I bagged the last couple times too but just a perfect environment right now for fungus.
I always felt that keeping it too long or too short might or could cause some problems. Keeping to long causes the bottom to stay
moist and may take longer to dry out which causes mold and break down of the grass leaves. Too short with very hot climate will cause the grass to dry out quickly and can kill the top and upper roots. Keeping the grass around 3" is a reasonable length to maintain. Strips is beautiful but it does not make the grass grow upright and natural. You're forcing it down and not making the leaf grow the proper way. Though, I do strip my lawn but will be switching back and forth from strips to no strips. The whole idea is to pay attention to the growth and cut often when needed.
I finally raise my cut height to maximum (4plus) on my snapper and now I’m seeing this lol. Majority of my yard is converted to KBG from overseeding last few years. Going High this year as a test for even better weed control. But you got me thinking as usual
Mowing it slightly lower isn't going to hurt it and to be honest, bluegrass still struggles in the major heat no matter if it was one in taller or not.
Just like Ryan said mowing a little lower will still keep weed pressure down. For reference I mow between 2.75-3.25 but I mow every 3 days. My kbg has gotten ridiculously thick and there is now virtually no weed pressure
Thanks for both your advice. I just attached my striping kit and it almost blocks the adjustment levers on the rear wheels but I think I can drop it at least one notch.
Yep that's how my grass is tall it's sucks!
Cutting it down to 2 or 2.5" seems best for me up in Manitoba
Look for a comb for your lawn before you mow could fix the problem, i have Penncross Bentgrass growing as a normal lawn I want to keep it at a height of 4 inches, it's a very small piece of land somewhat a joke but all I have to work with in the front of my house and a very small plot of dirt with a tree in it.
Plant 3 or more Oaks in the back border, it will cut down noise. Enclose your turf! Great lawn!
I probably won't live to see them actually make a difference!
I have this problem with TTTF in shady areas. Everyone says cut at 4" but I am starting to go 2.5-3.25.
Ryan (or anyone else) - do you have a general rule of thumb for when to bag grass clippings or when to leave them mulched on the lawn? Just dethatched yesterday (I'm near Chicago) for the first time (in 5+ years) and your videos are awesome! Great content!
I usually just bag if I need the grass clippings for something else (like my wife's garden) or if there's some kind of fungus. Also first and last mows of the year tend to be bagged just to make sure everything looks clean. From there it's just up to you. Most people will mulch and that's good for the lawn too.
Ryan I love your videos. Thank you so much. I especially appreciate that you live in Minnesota! :) I was wondering if you have any tips or videos for those of us with hilly lawns. Is there anything different we should keep in mind when mowing or doing general lawn care? Thanks!
Glad you like the videos. I grew up in MN but actually live in Central Iowa now. I'll always be a Minnesotan though as you can tell from my attire. I wouldn't say anything specific for hills just be more cautious with mowing and slopes. I have a pretty steep hill on the edge of my backyard so I know how it's kind of a pain to deal with.
I am cutting at 3/5 but I might have to cut at 3in because I have Kentucky bluegrass and it loves to lay over
Experiencing the same exact thing this year. Had to cut it a bit higher because of all the rain and trying to adhere to the 1/3rd rule. Knocked it down to about 3”. Going to bring it back up to 3 1/2 and get some color back.
We use to have Kentucky Blue and it makes for a great looking lawn as long as we got sufficient rain and optimum temps. But it was a difficult task to keep it nice looking when the rains cut off and mid summer heat began. You could tell it was dying for water, because it would start turning grey. We would cut it at approx. 3+ inches. Any shorter and it would die out. However, in optimal conditions, it would get so thick that we would get a fungus in certain areas of the yard, depending on how much sun it got. To make a long story short, I just finally gave up on Blue and went with tall fescue. Its hardier and doesnt have the fungus problems. Still dont see how you manage to cut yours so short.
It's really interesting to hear this take. I've had the complete opposite experience. Central Jersey, zone 7a (northern most tip of transition zone). I find the specific cultivar of KBG in my yard to have 0 disease pressure, whereas the various TTTF mixes in my yard get diseased every single summer. From the watering perspective, if I keep the KBG at ~3" in summer, it handles dry spells as well as my TTTF. They are even at best, I might even give the KBG a slight edge there. Again, this could be KBG cultivar specific. Based on how mine responds to summer stress, it must be more suited for it than some of the other KBG cultivars out there.
Since they are even on water for me, and KBG gets 0 disease pressure, I'm likely going to renovate with all KBG at some point in the future. I'm curious, which growing zone are you in?
@@critterdude311 I live in the transition zone called Kansas.
@@michaelfisher7835 interesting, very similar climates. Must come down to specific cultivar differences.
@@critterdude311 I think it comes down to soil and its ability to hold nutrients and water.
Maybe the moldy kbg is more related to being wet than being too long.
The stepped on KBG doesn't reach for the sunlight and straighten out a little?
Id figure a way to keep it long every 2 mow or something.
When you showed the tall fescue part, I saw some grasses have seeds on it. I have the similar grass in my lawn. It drives me crazy in hot season to see that section growing with a lot of seeds. Are they weeds?
+Ryan knorr I'm having the same exact issue right now but with my fescue. I've been at 4" and then we got almost a week straight of rain here in Northern Virginia and my beautiful lush green lawn now has a bunch of gray spots. So now I have to invest in a $80 bag of Headway fungicide. Hopefully that'll rectify the situation.
Yeah the lawn sometimes has a mind of its own and even our best plans don't turn out how we had hoped. But the great thing is most situations can be fixed and in the end, things are back to normal.
And this is why I cut at 3 inches during the spring but starting june 15 I let it grow to 4 inches. We get wet springs and dry summers.
I'll see what mine looks like mid summer. Thanks for sharing.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care it will turn out ok once you cut it shorter. Just getting some airflow will hopefully clear the fungus problem up.
Ryan, 4 is a bit to tall for KBG, I’ve found that 3.5 yields best results for fat stacking...have you thought about maybe doing some sort of stepping stones to get to the garden? It saves on crown twisting..2 cents
Don't mow to a dimension, mow to what the lawn asks for. Mow often. Gives you more chances for inspection as you mow.
I can’t figure out why my lawn mower will not cut the blades clean! I have sharpened the blade and it still will not cut clean.
Beautiful stuff Ryan... Keep it up✌️
Thanks!
Ryan, so are you concerned about going down to 3" during the hot season and losing some of your heat resistance or weed resistance? I thought it was a good idea to grow a little longer in hot summer and lower in spring and fall. This is assuming cold season grasses.
I wouldn't be concerned with 3 inches but if you can go higher and get the grass to stand up well then that's fine too. I'm mowing part of my lawn at .75" right now and it's going to be 100 for the next few days. Fun stuff!
@@ryanknorrlawncare Cool. I am noticing my grass is also laying to one side in some areas and my Toro isn't strong enough to suction it up at 4" tall. Think I'll go back to 3" for the rest of the season and see what happens.
I have good luck cutting my KBG at 3" and my TTTF at 4". If you get a lot of shade, you can go shorter.
I'm full sun but usually 3 works ok for me.
There is definitely a fine line between tall & healthy and a tall icky mess. I say find your sweet spot then depending on seasons and conditions you can fluctuate .5” either way but seldom does any more then that work out well.
Thank you for sharing
I cut my grass on the shortest setting 1 inch in the spring and leave the grass clippings on the lawn and in the mid summer onward I let it grow to 6 inches high before cutting it to 3 inches in late summer and leave grass clippings on lawn. In fall I cut grass 3 inches and bag the grass clippings and leaves
I’ve been mowing at 4” all year. It was great but now in late summer, it’s not doing well. It looks like fungus and some is still matted down. I just mowed it down to 3.5” but not a lot of improvement. Any ideas on bringing it back to life? Rake, de-thatch, cut lower? Thanks
Really nice drone shots.
Thanks this really helped
What may cause my lawn to rise? It's now higher than my cement patio. St augustine has also creeped into my yard and is replacing my 25 year old marathon sod.
Have you found that the time saver mulches fine? I mow my lawn high also with my walk behind mower. My lawn tractor does not mulch very well.
I needed this video
Great video👍 Thanks 😊
I was wondering if can help me with my lawn I live in Southern California and I have Marathon fescue grass sod but have brown patches what should I do with that??in how to cover them up should I reseed them
its interesting to see which videos attract views....for example the rolling video has 90k views but the swardman is only 10k.....must be some search keyword function
Yeah I wish I could choose which ones get the massive views, but unfortunately I can't.
How tall is too tall? I have always cut my lawns on the max height setting of whichever mower I use. I used to use a Scag 48" walkbehind, but had to sell it to move cross country and now I use an el-cheapo 21" push mower. My old yard was what I think is "sheep fescue," a very tall wispy grass that if left alone would get like 12+ inches long and flop over on the ground and blow in the breeze. I cut it at about 4.5" I think and it was the most lush green lawn I've ever had, grew faster than I could cut it and never needed to water it once in 4 years. Current yard is Kentucky Bluegrass and I'm cutting it at 3" because that's the max height on my push mower. The lawn seems to be sparsely planted with grass, if you look straight down you can see a good area of dirt between each clump of grass (why is it growing in clumps anyways?!). This new lawn requires tons of water and is kinda frustrating to deal with. Worms have made thousands of castings piles that make it painful to walk and even kinda dangerous because you can roll your ankle on them if you're not careful. Never had the worm problem before either, and my last yard had the MOST earthworms I've ever seen in on place yet they never made one single casting pile. So instead of my beautiful lush thick smooth green lawn I remember, now I've got a thin, tan/light green, bumpy mess. Currently in east central Nebraska. Would killing the Bluegrass and seeding with Buffalograss be better or fix any of my problems? Should I keep the lawn mowed shorter, do you think that would discourage the worms from making such large piles? Some of the piles are well over an inch tall, some are just shy of 2".
I mowed two days ago when my soil was still wet, my grass laid down and fungus started to developed.
Spring is tough because of all that moisture.
How does perennial ryegrass handle mowing between 3 to 4 inches? I was mowing at 3 but I am seeing the yellow dead grass forming underneath.
Thank you B
no problem
When you talked about your tall fescue at minute 3:50 I noticed you have those little plants mixed in with the turf (I’m sure they have a name). Are those weeds or what exactly are those? And how can I get rid of them? I have thick tall fescue lawn and I’m currently dealing with those, it’s driving me nuts! And btw I just purchased the Honda HRX217HYA and it’s amazing with the suction power, I highly recommend it. I’m sure it would solve your problem, it lifts the turf and seems to cut it very well and evenly.
Those little things sticking up are the grass going to seed. It's a natural process that happens and will stop here in the next few weeks.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care oh wow haha well thank you! I was freaking out for nothing
Very informative video Ryan like always talking about fungus I plan on putting granular grub control down in mid-june can I also put a granular fungicide down on the same day but separate applications
Should be able to but check the labels closely. It should have any warnings on there about being applied with other products.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care ok will do thank you very much
How can I know what grass is in my yard? Thank you.
Best thing you can first do is search your area and with the tag "grass types" in google - that will give you a good starting point and otherwise find a local extension office for your area. They are experts in grass/plants/trees of your specific area.
Super cool that you responded! Thank you.
I have a question for you. I know you're wife does organic gardening, what do think of "lawn tea". Would you be opposed to trying to make some and trying it? Behind the fence maybe? I have been thinking about it more and more. Milo starts to get expensive when you buy 6 bags every 4 weeks or so.
I have thought about things like that yes. I only apply milo 2-3 times a year so it isn't crazy expensive for me.
I used to mow at 4" I'm mowing currently at 3" and thinking about mowing to 2" to 2.5" keep in mind its st. aug
This is an old video but I’m having the same issue with my st aug. before the rain storm it was thick and beautiful at 4”. I’m thinking of taking down to 2” 2.5 because it’s staying too damp at 3”-4” at least for now during this rainy season.
Id try using different blades with better lift then, not all mowers and blades act the same so it could just be from the mower being ineffective at that height and not the grass having an issue with being that tall. Highlift or gator blades are a must imo for that situation. Idk what your running /?
High lift gator style. :) I think my main problem is the grass varieties I have. My paperwork says mowing height 3/4"-2" so I'm pushing it a lot.
It would be interesting to see how a stand on would do if there would be any change, ive bumped up all my lawns to 3.5,3.75 and a few @ 4 and they look so much better than before. We have had a bunch of rain so ive tried to keep things a little shorter but now its drying back out and bumping it back up to normal seems to be doing the trick. Might try doing the same back to 3 or 3.25 or lower while its that moist then raising it once the moisture levels drop down. I think that would make a big difference for ya.
I have KBG myself and was thinking of lowering it back down as well. I'm at 4", I don't think it looks good tall. I was thinking about changing over to Fescue, need to research to see if it will be a good fit here in Detroit.
I personally don't like the look this tall either. Going back down a bit on mine.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care Thanks so much for the reply!
What happens to grass if it never gets mowed? I wonder how long it would actually get and what it would look like?
Very tall. Like at least knee high
Just like a hay field...
Hi Ryan, I have a newly established lawn here in the UK (6 weeks since laying turf) , I believe the grass is cool season - perennial ryegrass) over in a shaded corner there are several spots like the ones you describe in this video, I assume here its from being shaded and damp and being trodden on, is there anything I need to do to stop the fungus or repair these small areas? Or should I just reduce the cutting length overall? Thank you for the awesome videos!
Shaded areas are prone to this because they don't dry out as well. I would probably use a fungicide on those areas if you can to prevent further damage from fungus and cut a little lower there to help things dry out.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care that's brilliant, thank you very much for your help, the videos are very useful/informative and your lawn looks fantastic!
I'm in Wisconsin and cut mine at 4 for the first time last week. I don't really like it because it looks like it needs to be cut instantly already lol. Shorter it is the cleaner it looks in my eyes
Agreed.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care how often were you cutting your grass when you were keeping it higher than normal?
About every 2 days.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care hmmm ok. I'll try going back to 3 and see how it looks. Thanks
tall fescue part. what are those seeds near the tall fescue? Poa Anoa maybe?
Grass going to seed. It happens every year around this time and should be done in a few weeks.
Poa annua seeds are more whitish and they tend to have an alternating left to right stems off to each side. Fescue seeds are more vertical and stick close to center.
Same here Ryan. I need it at 3" any higher just lays down. Must be because we're to far north lol. I'm in mid Michigan
Good call I have the same problem. I'm going to cut at 3 inches
:)
Nice Sonus Fabers! Beautiful
What about zoysia? I cut mine pretty high, but I don't have much traffic aside from small dogs.
I don't know much about zoysia but a quick search says it should be mowed a little shorter than the grasses I'm talking about.
Your little spots? It’s called dollar spot... Schlerotinia homeocarpa. You can cut your turf all the way down to a golf green’s height... and it’s still a problem.
I'm starting to see this issue with St. Augustine with all this recent rain. ie. Some yellowing and the grass not standing up. I've been mowing to 4 inches. I think I'm going to bring it down to 3.5 or 3. Any suggestions on that one?
I like to bring it down to the level with it can stand up on its own otherwise it not only looks messy to me, but you can have some issues like I show here.
Hey Ryan... I keep tall fescue and Rye grass at 1 inch... and looks great... I like lawn low!!!
I like a low lawn too. Working on one if my front yard right now.
Well Kentucky Blue Grass is the worst for traffic !! Then you have two varieties that as you proved don’t belong together. During rainy season you can get away with a little shorter , but definitely in hot summer and dry times you want it long !! Your issue is from the two varieties being together and walked on. I’m a fescue fan myself. Tall , green , drought tolerant , and excellent for traffic. But you have a beautiful lawn !! Just going to have to stay off it !!
If I had to do it all over again I would have hand picked the varieties but unfortunately it was done by a local company just using a pre-determined mix.That was years ago when I didn't have any knowledge of lawn care. Fescue has advantages but personally I like the thin blade look of bluegrass. Just my preference but cutting a little shorter is the answer. It doesn't do well in heat in general but that is what it is.
Do you cut your grass every two weeks?
Hey Ryan, I noticed some seed pods when you showed your tall fescue. I have the same in my yard when I go 3-4 days without mowing and I was curious as to what it was. Are those seed pods from tall fescue, and if so, is that common throughout the growing season?
Yes the grass is going to seed right now trying to reproduce. It's a natural process and will end in a few weeks.
@@ryanknorrlawncare that's annual blue grass.
Great vid
Thanks!