GRASS CUTTING TIPS
Mowing your grass really short may not be good for your lawn. If you're working on stories about lawn care, here are some sources who might prove useful.
Dr. Peter Landschoot, professor of turfgrass science at Penn State University and a guest lecturer for the university's World Campus' on-line "Turfgrass Management" courses. As a general rule of thumb, Landschoot says Kentucky Blue Grass shouldn't be cut lower than two inches. Its food reserves get used up faster because you're removing a lot of the leaf organ, which it needs for photosynthesis. "If you're cutting real low then you're removing most of the beneficial portion of the grass plant. This part helps produce the food. If you're taking away this portion then the plant has to tap into its reserves," says Landschoot. If the grass has to draw on its reserves then it doesn't have it to recover from drought, heat and disease. "If you are mowing Kentucky Blue Grass down to 1.5 inches, you need to give it more water and fertilizer just to maintain the same quality of turf that you would if you were maintaining it the proper height," says Landschoot. Contact Landschoot at 814--863-1017.
Dr. Stephen Main, professor of biology at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He says the rate grass grows may depend a bit upon the height of the lawnmower blade, but it is more dependent upon the type of grass you are growing and the climate. "Aesthetics also determine the frequency of mowing. There is a movement to encourage more natural lawns, i.e., lawns with native grasses and flowers, to encourage wild-life cover. Unfortunately, your neighbors might not look at it the same way, feeling you have a weed-patch rather than a lawn," says Main who teaches botany at Wartburg College. He cites an eccentric woman in Waverly who never cut her lawn until after mid-summer. It wasn't because she was lazy, she was attempting to let water grass go to seed. Water grass never grows over 5 or 6 inches anyway, so it doesn't get too shaggy. Contact Dr. Main at 319- 352-8386 (office) or 319-352-1629 (home).
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Editors: If you need any additional information, feel free to contact Steve Infanti of Dick Jones Communications at 814-867-1963 or [email protected]
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