Most cut grass too short.

[Saltheart]

In my area , WPRO is the biggest news radio station. Been that way my whole life. Back when Salty Brine was on PRO it was like no other station even existed in RI.

Anyway , they have a new lawn service sponsor who runs adds each week giving advice on different topics. This week , all week all I heard was how people almost all cut their lawns too short. His big negatives about cutting them too short is that cutting short means a shallow root system will develop and that being surrounded by short grass rather than long helps the weeds like crabgrass tremendously.

He said most people should set their mowers at the highest setting they have or at most , one setting down from max. To me that sounded like the lawn would look like hell after mowing. I did try it though on the second highest setting of my craftman ridearound and in fact the lawn looked just as well groomed as it did 2 settings lower where I used to set it for many years. I figure I'll try the higher setting for the whole season this year and see if the lawn gets better.

My lawn is like a in between lawn. Its not the nicest in the neighborhood but it is far from the worst. Maybe like in the 75th percentile. It will be interesting to see how cutting it longer goes.

Last week or so , this guy was pushing the idea of not collecting the clippings. He said you should not leave big clumps of clippings but if chopped good by the blade and evenly distributed so they sink into the grass , they return lots of nutrients to the soil. I always collect my clippings but if his longer is better trick works out , I may try the no clipping collection thing next.