How Often Should You Mow in Louisiana Summer?

Every May we get the same question from new customers: can we just mow every other week to save money? The honest answer is yes, you can — but from late May through September on the North Shore, bi-weekly is usually a false economy. Here is what is actually happening under the deck.

The one-third rule

The oldest rule in turf is: never cut more than one-third of the blade at once. Cut more than that and you scalp the plant, expose the crown, and the grass responds by running its roots shallower and sending up seed heads — which is exactly what you do not want.

St. Augustine on a North Shore lawn in June is growing fast — a couple of inches a week, easily. If you cut it at 4 inches on week zero and skip a week, by week two it is at 7 or 8 inches. Cutting it back to 4 means taking off half the blade, way past the one-third rule.

What bi-weekly looks like in July

Two things happen when you let a summer lawn go two weeks between cuts:

1. Tearing instead of cutting. The grass is tall enough that even sharp blades struggle, and the clippings are long enough to mat. You end up with brown tips and clumps the blower cannot move. 2. Recovery lag. After a too-aggressive cut the grass goes into stress mode for a week to ten days. On a biweekly schedule, your lawn is basically always either too long or recovering.

Neighbors notice. More importantly, weeds notice — exposed soil is all they need.

When bi-weekly works

Bi-weekly service is genuinely appropriate in a few situations:

- Deep shade. A heavily wooded Covington lot with centipede or St. Augustine in mostly shade grows slower. Every other week is fine. - Dormant season. November through February, most North Shore lawns slow way down. Monthly or on-call service is often enough. - Centipede in average sun. Centipede is the one grass that can often stretch to bi-weekly in summer without looking rough.

What we recommend

On the North Shore our default weekly service runs roughly May through mid-October. In spring and fall we can move some properties to every ten days. In winter we step down to bi-weekly or monthly depending on the lot. That is what we would do if it was our own front yard — and it is what we do for most of our Slidell and Mandeville customers.

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If your lawn is struggling on a stretched schedule, the first visit back on weekly usually looks rough before it looks right — plan on two cuts before everything evens out. A property review includes a plain read on what your specific lot needs.