Weekly Mowing vs. Bi-Weekly Mowing
How often should you mow your lawn? This is a question we often hear when speaking with our landscaping customers. The answer is not as straightforward as you may think. Mowing once a week during the growing season is key to maintaining a healthy, lush lawn (and a must with an irrigation system). However, in times of drought, heat, or outside the peak growing season, your lawn may only need mowing every other week.
Benefits of Maintaining a Mow Schedule
There are two key factors in determining when you should mow your lawn: the ideal blade height for your grass and the season. We consider these factors when determining a mowing schedule beneficial to your lawn needs. There is a multitude of benefits in maintaining a specific time interval mow schedule, including:
- Availability of Light & Nutrients – A weekly mowing schedule with a riding lawn mower allows light and nutrients to every part of your yard. This helps your grass grow evenly.
- Reduces Amount of Thatch – Mowing often reduces the amount of thatch that will build up over time. Why is this important? The smaller pieces of grass will break down more quickly and act as a natural fertilizer for your lawn.
- Roots – Regular mowing keeps roots healthy and better branched, resulting in lush, hearty grass.
- Fewer Weeds – Some weeds can grow in a matter of days. Maintaining a weekly mowing schedule will keep weeds at bay by decreasing weed pressure in your lawn.
- Stronger Yard – Weekly mowing makes for heartier blades of grass. Cutting the grass stops vertical growth of each blade, causing it to grow thicker at the base.
Does Mowing Your Lawn Bi-Weekly Save Money?
You may feel you can save money with a bi-weekly mow schedule as opposed to a weekly mow schedule. While this may seem like a great idea, there are many benefits to weekly mowing and several pitfalls with mowing less often.
Maintaining a bi-weekly schedule during the growing season can quickly to lead overgrowth between cuts. The simple fact is, mowing overgrown grass is much harder on equipment, tougher on the lawn, and takes extra time. In these cases, it can lead to customers accruing a “double-charge” for the extra time and efforts required of the mowing crew.
Lawn service companies may lure customers in by selling them on a bi-weekly mow schedule. The truth is, they are likely charging customers more. It generally varies from 1.25 to almost 2 times the normal cost of weekly mowing.
Maintaining a weekly mow schedule during growth season is optimal for lawns and customer’s pockets.
Our Role When We Mow Your Lawn
Our goal is to consider each client, their lawn, and desired outcome. While we recommend weekly mowing to our clients, we allow adjustments to the lawn care schedule if needed.
