Mow or No Mow in dry spell ?

As we are having a long sunny dry spell - 3 weeks without rain at least . Some lawns are beginning to show brown spots . In these (rare ) times , is it best to leave the grass longish to reduce evaporation from the lawn soil. Or keep it cut as normal so there is less surface area of grass to lose water from
PS . I really do not mind not mowing

 

I leave my cuts higher than normal Harry unless the customer is watering.
There are those who believe it’s best to cut shorter due to the process called Evapotranspiration which is where the grass plant controls it’s moisture release. A shorter grass has less surface area for the above.
I tend to leave the grass longish as the height of cut also dictates the root system and a better root system is more efficient.
There comes a time when I just stop cutting, pointless if the grass is showing stress.

 

I'm watering every day. I say watering, but most of it is done by my two pop up sprinklers.
They don't quite cover the whole lawn as they are only mains powered. Only suitable for small gardens unless you add a pump.

I'm not on a water meter.

My Flymo is set at the lowest height.

I usually mow at least once sometimes twice a week. At my golf club, the greens are cut at a similar frequency and are watered at least twice a day. Of course it's not conventional grass, but they have always to be closely mown.

My lawn isn't as perfect as our golf club greens but it isn't too bad at the moment.
All it gets is a dose of iron sulphate every now and again.

This is it this afternoon. I've not cut it since Friday. Ill probably cut it late tomorrow afternoon. All it gets is just a wizz over with the Flymo, not bothered about stripes. takes all of ten minutes. No big deal.





If anyone is interested.

These sprinklers I installed myself. Total cost about fifty quid.
Heads from e-Bay, speed-fit pipe and connectors. Recycled control valve.
I had a bit of sand and cement I needed to restore the path. Did it all in half a day.


"Dry run," well actually, "wet run" to make sure they'd work.




Cut 6" wedges out of the, lawn, laid the pipe and replaced the wedges.



It took about two weeks for the scars to disappear.

You can adjust the heads to leave a quadrant "dry" like I have for where I turn it on and to stop the tea-house getting soaked.



I've had them for six years. Didn't need them much last year or the year before.

The video!

 

First class DHR, as always

My own grass is kept to a reasonable height all year round. I water once or twice a week if dry in the summer. I cut twice a week. Down here, winter mowing too as grass rarely stops growing for long. Looks pretty good I think....well, folk say it is!

Used to have a first class lawn....premium fine grass, etc., mown every second day, spiked, top dressed, etc., etc......it was a lot of work. Lawn now is usually nice n green, fit to play on, to walk on and to set off the garden.

Harry, I enjoy mowing too with my cordless mower; I would raise the cut and continue to mow. If you dont, when you do decide to mow at a later time it will show up as yellow and brown.

 

Looks like the dry spell answer is not too long not too short . I'll give it a medium height cut this Friday

 

Leave it long especially in prolonged dry spells. Weeds will appear as if out of nowhere if kept short when the grass is not growing due to drought. Plus keeping it long is good for the daisies! Much healthier grass too IMO.

Nooooo.