Fort Smith Lawn Care | Why you need to scalp your bermuda and zoysia grass in the spring.

We get asked all the time, “should I scalp and bag my lawn?”. Well the simple answer is “it depends.” It depends on the kind of grass you have, when the last time you mowed was, how short the last lawn mowing was, has it grown since the last mowing?

To try to make it as simple as possible, if you have zoysia or bermuda, then yes you should scalp and bag it, and here’s why. If you want an easy example look around town for someone who hasn’t trimmed they’re monkey grass all year. you’ll see a really ugly dead brown plant. When the spring comes around the brown grass doesn’t turn green, but new growth springs up from the ground. If you don’t cut back the dead grass, then you’ll hardly even notice the new growth, and it certainly won’t be pretty. Your lawn is the same, to promote healthy new growth and make sure it looks lush and green, you need to cut back and dispose of the old dead growth.

This is why in the spring, before lawn mowing kicks off, you need to mow much lower than you normally would, and bag and dispose of the clippings. According to fairwaylawns.com/lawn101/mowing you don’t want to scalp until all chances of frost are gone. Usually the ideal time for scalping lawn mowing is roughly between March 15th and April 30th. Once you’ve got this done you’re geared up for a lush successful lawn mowing season.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | How important are sharp lawn mower blades?

We’ve all been there, driving (or pushing, we don’t judge) your lawn mower, trying to get the yard done as quickly as you can to get out of the hot sun. You drive a strip and come back around to see that the grass is uneven and not all cut, it is beyond frustrating to have to run over the same grass multiple times, and even then it doesn’t look smooth and even. Time to sharpen or change the blades.

However, the importance of sharp lawn mower blades goes beyond only having to mow the grass once. The more dull the blades get, the less they cut the grass and the more they tear it. At this point it is merely the high speed of the blades that is ripping the grass apart. Not only does this not look as good and clean, but it’s not good for the health of your grass. Mowing with these conditions will damage your lawn and cause unhealthy growth.

If you’re wondering how often you should sharpen your blades it merely depends on how much grass you’re mowing and how often you mow it. For Lawn mowing services like us, running multiple mowers everyday of the week, it’s imperative to sharpen and refresh our blades weekly or bi-weekly. If you’re just mowing your own yard you’ll have to judge it for yourself. But sharpening your blades is never a bad idea.

The easiest solution is to forgo the headache and hire a professional lawn mowing service!