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We are short of water here in California. The water district has advised cutting grass so the blades are longer because it will conserve water. Is this true, and if so, why ?

How tall should Bluegrass be before mowing and to what height should it be mowed ?

MowerMark said:

We are short of water here in California. The water district has advised cutting grass so the blades are longer because it will conserve water. Is this true, and if so, why ?

How tall should Bluegrass be before mowing and to what height should it be mowed ?

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Because of the transpiration factor, I would need to see the proof rather than - someone saying " I think " -

SeniorCitizen said:

Because of the transpiration factor, I would need to see the proof rather than - someone saying " I think " -

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Agree. The basis was something like keeping sunlight from hitting the ground, and also longer blades allow a stronger deeper root structure. This would be valuable information, if true.

MowerMark said:

We are short of water here in California. The water district has advised cutting grass so the blades are longer because it will conserve water. Is this true, and if so, why ?

How tall should Bluegrass be before mowing and to what height should it be mowed ?

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What the Water district is telling you may or may not be true. It depends on what type of cutting your doing or how your cutting. Are you bagging, Are you discharging, using high lifts, Mulching or what?

Ric said:

What the Water district is telling you may or may not be true. It depends on what type of cutting your doing or how your cutting. Are you bagging, Are you discharging, using high lifts, Mulching or what?

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Where can one find a guide to mowing heights, watering amounts, watering schedule, soul pH, when to use gypsum-fertilizer-lime-iron ETC. ETC. ?

MowerMark said:

Where can one find a guide to mowing heights, watering amounts, watering schedule, soul pH, when to use gypsum-fertilizer-lime-iron ETC. ETC. ?

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Mowing heights can be found online through a search. Blue grass can be cut anywhere from 1.5 to 4 inches depending on the look you're trying to achieve. If your using that Honda it should have the Twin blades MicroCut System which should produce a really fine cut grass, which is what you want. The finer cut the better. I'd set the mower at its highest cutting height which should be 4 Inches. don't bag, let the mower do what it's designed to do and it will feed and water the grass you're mowing. Use the 1/3rd cut rule. If your in a drought situation I sure wouldn't worry or add fertilizer or use gypsum-fertilizer-lime-iron ETC. ETC.

MowerMark said:

We are short of water here in California. The water district has advised cutting grass so the blades are longer because it will conserve water. Is this true, and if so, why ?

How tall should Bluegrass be before mowing and to what height should it be mowed ?

Click to expand...

A basic recommendation is to remove no more than one-third of the grass blade at any one mowing. For example, Kentucky bluegrass being maintained at a two-inch height should be mowed when it reaches three inches. This "one-third rule" will help maintain maximum turf root growth. Removing more than one-third of the grass blades may cause root growth to cease while the leaves and shoots are regrowing.

Source: Turfgrass Mowing

I agree with everyone's points and in my experience the soil type makes a big difference on shading the soil. I normally don't mow shorter than 3" unless were in a wet spell.

The key to conserving water is a well designed sprinkler system and proper watering. You can check online weather stations to determine your TE or transevaporation but the goal is to replace the water in the soil and not to over water. hunter makes a great product called the mp rotator which puts down about half the water as a regular spray head and you don't have to adjust the watering times for each zone. If you want to save your clients a ton of money on their water bill, learn how to dial in their sprinkler system. look up cycle and soak. Soil usually absorbs water at .10 inch per hour unless its clay or sand. could be more or less but a regular sprinkler head puts dow 10 times that in 1 hour so you are wasting 90% of the water you are putting down. If you water correctly you will get the roots to the grass down 5 to 6 inches which will keep it green at the shorter heights your clients love so much. Water conservation is 99% directly connected to your sprinkler system or other watering types.

A tenth of an inch an hour sound impossible. Honest. KState is 50 miles from me and call for an inch in an hour about once a week if under 100 F. Over that they call for twice a week but seldom do it. My grass is on a pretty good slope and never runs off until a good 2 inches is put on. My Bermuda out back is flat and can take a hard 2 inch rain in a heartbeat. One tenth of an inch per hour in summer would evaporate here in the heat of summer. It would take ten hours to put on an inch and at least one half of that at 100 to 105 temps. We mow at the highest or second to the highest setting and water cool season grass once a week with an inch of water unless we have rain.

possum said:

A tenth of an inch an hour sound impossible. Honest. KState is 50 miles from me and call for an inch in an hour about once a week if under 100 F. Over that they call for twice a week but seldom do it. My grass is on a pretty good slope and never runs off until a good 2 inches is put on. My Bermuda out back is flat and can take a hard 2 inch rain in a heartbeat. One tenth of an inch per hour in summer would evaporate here in the heat of summer. It would take ten hours to put on an inch and at least one half of that at 100 to 105 temps. We mow at the highest or second to the highest setting and water cool season grass once a week with an inch of water unless we have rain.

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Well it looks like maybe you have not checked out the precipitation rates on sprinklers in a while because in order to put down an inch of water you need to run the biggest nozzle Hunter has which is a 12 for one hour and sixteen minutes at 50 psi. A typical spray zone runs about 25 minutes and you will put down about .20 inches about an average of three to four times a week. There are resources you can look at to find out exactly what you are putting down instead of guessing.