The last couple of weeks, I noticed my weekly grass mowing crew not mowing my front yard grass as low as they did in the spring. Within the week by the next time they are scheduled to mow, it's pretty high. I thought they were doing it to improve its summer durability. However, I noticed the below quote in Neil Sperry's weekly newsletter.

Quote:

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Keep mowing lawn at recommended height. Mowing lawn higher than recommended does not improve its summer durability.

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The grass is growing good right now as we are getting quite a bit of rain. Does the crew just not want to cut it the normal height as it would leave clumps of grass that they don't want to have to rake up?

On a regular self propelled mower I mow one notch below the maximum on my SA. Anecdotal….

Lemmon:
For St. Augustine, don't mow any lower than a 3 3.5-inch-high profile.
For St. Augustine with healthy soil profiles, you can and should mow at a 3.5 4-inch-high profile.

Sperry:
St. Augustine: 2 to 2-1/2 inches. If shade is rather heavy and you're not leaving much leaf surface after you mow, you may have to raise the mower one notch so you won't be cutting off excessive blade length

Texas A&M:
Texas A&M recommends 2.5" to 3" (3" to 3.5" inches in shady lawns)

I follow Sperry and mow twice a week

That's a General Neil Quote all righty
and your lawn crew is dead on caring for your grass.

A better source might be Garden Success 90.9 KAMU-FM in Aggieland
where you might hear
only cut 1/3 off top but regularly in summer
... more details noon on Thursdays
Call in or email Dr. Skip R

Just raised a notch on my bermuda lawn in DFW. More like deep rough on a golf course now.
Manually water once a week.
Recent rain has helped it stay very green.

Will take it down a notch when temps stay 90 and below.

You don't ever state what they were cutting it to in Spring. So a relative 'higher' may or may not correspond to the text you quoted. I cut my SA at 3" in the summer.

I've been cutting mine at 4.25 and it's greener than ever. Cut at 3.75 last summer and couldn't keep it green. It runs a little longer and blows in the wind, but I'd rather it be long and green than short and yellow.

by the time July rolled around, I recall my dad telling me to set the mower to the highest setting

St Augustine 2.25" and Bermuda 1.75" twice a week. Also keeps my thatch to zero because I scalp and bag once in the Spring and never have to rake.

Suppose to keep mosquitoes down as well. Cool shaded grass is a lifesaver for them and fleas.

I need to dethatch this off-season.

I had to tell my mowers to lower in may. Some days it was hard to tell if they'd even cut at all. Once the did within 2 weeks lawn looked great. Even, less tire tracks, etc.

Edit to add: bermuda, Frisco

I mow st Aug at 3.5 and you really need to mow it every 6-7 days to establish a thick turf

Also mowing st aug with deck set as high as it will go. Grass looks pretty good considering temps over last 45 days and legit lack of rain over same timeframe. Do handwater 1-2 times per week.
In San Antonio.

I've been watering my SA heavily every 3 days since high 90's-100+ has been the norm, and so far so good. I have also been mowing it higher out of necessity since it's growing a lot and don't want to cut off too much at once. I'll try to cut it twice a week when I can, the second time a notch lower if it's within 2-3 days. Problem is that with it being cut taller, a couple of my spray heads don't quite cover the full areas they should, so I'll get the hose out and hit the dry wilting areas when needed.

Problem I'm having is getting good water saturation more than an inch or two deep. I even aerated and topdressed the entire lawn last summer, yet I'm still having multiple areas that get baked out and water just won't get through unless we have a full day or more of rain. A few days of sunny and hot, and it's back to hard pan under the grass and the irrigation starts to run off after just a few minutes. I even have my irrigation set to run three cycles back to back to back starting at 4:30am to give time to soak in.

Look into wetting agents.. a simple and effective solution is to use baby shampoo, mixed with water and sprayed with a pump mister. Water it in right after.

I tried it for the first time this year and it makes a world of difference. It sounds silly but it works.

Took this just now. I mow it on the second to highest setting on my Toro.

Most people in my area like the putting green look or want to go longer between cuts to save $$.

It always looks pale and stressed.

TokinAg said:

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Look into wetting agents.. a simple and effective solution is to use baby shampoo, mixed with water and sprayed with a pump mister. Water it in right after.

I tried it for the first time this year and it makes a world of difference. It sounds silly but it works.

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I've always put some dish soap in with weed killer but never thought about it for the whole lawn. Makes sense, I'll give it a shot.

I have an earthwise 7 blade reel mower. I keep my front yard at .75 (tif419)

My back yard is a different story. I mow it higher because I'm not reel mowing .5acre. My backyard hoc is probably 2"

In Medina County, the weather has helped out with my mowing costs. This kind of takes care of itself.