I love the knitted look of short grass but the loss in color just breaks my heart to watch. The green and blue hues just really come out when the grass is 3-4" long.
If you mow more often the grass will be trained to grow horizontally creating the carpet look also staying green. Golf baseball and most professional athletic fields mow almost everyday
Other advantages of tall grass: 1) Tall grass works better for a shady lawn. Long grass blades can harvest more sun and make more food. Your lovely lawn seems to be full sun, front and back, which gives you extra options. 2) Long grass works best for uneven, hilly lawns. A reel mower at 5/8 inch would scalp my lawn's rolling landscape - especially when I change mowing directions. 3) You can leave clippings in tall grass, but not in super short grass. Because I've left all clippings on my lawn for 20 years, my lawn has added an inch of topsoil and now rises above the adjoining sidewalk. 4) Taller grass is self-watering, in the sense that it harvests bucket loads more dew than short grass. Many mornings this spring my lawn has been sopping wet from overnight dew, while my neighbors' shorter lawns are barely damp. I have a suburban lawn in Minnesota, as do you. I cut my Kentucky blue grass at four inches - my mower's highest setting. The rich, deep green, luscious salad lawn feels to me like a vibrant jungle teaming with life. (Over five inches, grass attracts mice and snakes.)
These are all great points. I'm sure there are plenty more of these facts also. As far the hilly lawn statement, a greensmower at 5/8ths of an inch is way more forgiving than you can imagine. My lawn is nowhere near level and it does just fine with it. It's hard to tell from the video but it's definitely not flat. I used the greensmaster on the back yard (which is unbelievably bumpy and uneven) to scalp it this year and it did way better than I would've imagined. Just thought I'd throw that out there, but you definitely stated some good information!
I love my long grass, when the wind blows I see a luscious green sea swoosh and waves. I see nature. Peaceful and serene. Not a harsh OCD crew cut, which makes me think the homeowner is …”one of those.”
Short grass is ultimate when your lawn is fully leveled. Unfortunately i am far from it so i keep my tahoma 31 at 3 inches. I cut about 4 times a week to maintain the box look. Awesome vid on the cocktail for lawns.
It's the same with weeds if you leave soil undisturbed you will get 100's of tiny weeds but if you let them grow like a foot tall then cut them back you will find only a handful of weeds in same area just there all huge. Density and light defo the main factors The problem with 3" grass is it probably still isn't tall enough to fully shade out the soil from weeds. Any creeping weeds will love long grass.
As a low cut cool season guy I can conquer that way more people complement my lawn. Only downside is when I’m pressed for time and they ask for pointers
I’ve stopped using high nitrogen fertilizer rather than a PGR. I have transitioned to focusing on soil health in my lawn. This is the first year I’m doing that and my lawn looks better this year than it ever has. Thanks for the video
Lots of good comments and another informative video. Your presentations are crisp, clear and to the point with no hype. Bravo Zulu. However, cutting your grass short requires a very well leveled lawn. Leveling is labor intensive and tiring so I'll just keep my grass blades at a medium height.
Mowing short can look great but I just can’t put the time in to maintain a short lawn. I keep it around 2.5 inches or so and it stays looking pretty great mowing 1-2 times a week depending on the time of year
I think u hit everything. I always notice the loss in color with the short grass. I think people are conditioned to like the shorter grass because it looks more like carpet.
I live in the south, zone 8, with bermuda grass. The trick to keeping bermuda green and healthy is to keep it short. I reel mow my lawn and edge with an electric mower so that I don't inhale too many fumes because I do mow frequently during the growing season. The grass was dormant during winter and the hottest weeks of summer (100F high for weeks on end). I didn't mow my lawn for three months from end of December til end of March this year. I was growing some early spring wild flowers and mustard in the lawn, but now that the grow season is on, I need to mow at least once a week for best results, twice if I want the best lawn in the neighborhood. Reel mowing is easier when the grass is short as well.
Damn dude, that turf is thick! Working on mine to get to the point this summer. I have yet to use PGR, but it is on my list for this year. I think it will help me achieve what I am looking for. Great content and keep it up!
Thanks man! I've noticed the more and more I mowed, the thicker the turf became. I didn't do anything special to "thicken" it up, it just kind of naturally got thicker the lower I went. PGR is great for color and for mowing frequency. It's a win-win. You can also put in Nitrogen and Iron in the same tank mix and kill 3 birds with one stone!
No offense, I personally don't think it's because of how short you grass is at all but because of the sexy stripes you made on the field and the dark green together. That make people go crazy. Man I'm jealous of the green you have. I'm scare to use fertilizer because of my bad experiences with milorganite.
@@LAWNLIFE I had brought new st Augustine grass and put them down. They were healthy-looking, growing nice and thick for a while. One day I had a desire that overtook me to make them greener because I have seen some people at some places with a dark green grass-like yours. I went online to investigate; some people talk significantly about milorganite and that it doesn't burn lawn, so I took my chance. A grave mistake, after I put the grain down, for some reason unknown, some part of the grass started to turn yellow, like when someone accidentally drops bleach on a blue jean. I try my best to irrigate the grass to flush it down or stop this madness. Some couple of days pass, they turn to a disgusting brownish, dark, wet color. It's like there was a virus eating the grass secretly. I replace most of the grass; I'm still confused. Why it burns if they say it doesn't burn? Some People thought that maybe my grass was unhealthy, but it was not so.
Got the itch to reel mow and know I would need to renovate again after two years of TTTF/KBG. Kids are playing baseball so don’t have the time. Maybe when they are older. But damn the low cut looks damn good. I didn’t think it was a big deal before coming from having no knowledge and seeing well manicured lawns. But I see it now!!!
I feel cutting grass short put stress on the roots and over time the grass then starts to die out. Also i prefer the look of taller grass...looks more natural...real...
Thanks for watching man. Reel mowing definitely has it's highs and lows, but it's so awesome if you have the time to commit to it. Hope you're enjoying it. I'll have steady content coming all summer hopefully!
Thank you for putting this together. I’ve got the confidence to go short now, just need to find the mower. Just one question - did you do any leveling?
Long grass is the best. When I build my house, I'm going to have REALLLLLLY long grass..... about 50 FEET long/tall. Of course I'm not talking about my lawn, but rather the bamboo grove I'm going to grow, after all bamboo is grass. But yeah, when it comes to a lawn, I agree short grass looks better.
Thank you bro. I've been a long time subscriber of yours. I love your content. Kinda shocked seeing your name in my comments to be honest lol. I appreciate it!
I keep my grass at 2 inches. Short enough to look good without having to buy a reel mower. I cut my grass twice per week. Ever since going from 4 to 2 inches, I no longer have to deal with a lot of weeds
Hi John, what's wrong with setting a standard rotary mower to it's lowest setting vs. the reel mower to obtain a short cut? I understand that a reel mower will give a cleaner cut but is there any other reason not to use a rotary to get the short cut?
Looks like I’m just south of you in CR. I scalped, Sun Joe dethached, and overseeded with a low mow Jacklin KGB blend last fall. I was really surprised how little grass I actually had after taking it low; it always looked full when it was long. I did start running into bottoming out issues if go lower than 1 inch with my 7 blade manual reel. I’m going to slowly work on leveling this year, but I think it would make a huge difference having a powered reel with a drum drive, instead of wheels, on an uneven lawn.
How is the grass looking now this spring? It surprised me how thin everything was when I first scalped too because it looks super thick when it's long. I'm having the same issue in my backyard with uneveness with the manual real. When that happens I just cut the opposite way in that area and it usually helps. The drum does make a huge difference for scalping because when I scalped my backyard with the Greensmaster I had no issues with it bottoming out. Keep in touch since you're so close man!
My results were just OK. Last fall got cold early and I didn’t have a lot of tillering, so I did a dormant seeding in November and put a little more seed down today. I did a soil test and I had very low potassium, so I’m going to try getting that higher with sulfate of potash 0-0-50 throughout the season. My goal was to just get more bluegrass in my yard since I had a lot of rye and fine fescue. My goals may be changing to a full renovation. I was one of those new homeowners (in 2002) that would overseed with whatever seed was cheap. Usually something from Fleet Farm. Unfortunately, I did find that my creeping red fescue backyard has no problem with a low cut. It used to be shaded out with oaks and fine fescue was the only thing that seemed to do well. I was hoping I could cut it low and have the KGB take over. I’ll look for you on TLF.
Hi. I have a couple of questions to understand why your front lawn has become so dense. Do you think that just cutting it short causes the grass over time to become more full and dense? If is, do you know why that is? Also, how long did it take for your short grass to get used to being cut low and begin to become noticeable thicker? Lastly, what type of grass do you have and what area of the country do you live in? I am in the northeast so I have a blend of grass types (PRG, TTTF and KBG). Overall KBG seems to look the best when cut low but it also can struggle in the heat where I live. Thanks! Chris
I was going to say, I think short grass stripes better than long grass, you have more definition. And for the color I think if you keep training your grass at a certain height for a while it'll keep the dark green color.
I have long grass but I would prefer short grass, looks much better and I think less chance for insects to hide. I think it also depends on the type of grass, right? I have Bermuda, but I may need a higher quality grass type.
The quality and quantity of information and science in this channel is the like a crash course equivalent to a phd degree in lawn care and botanic and the care in the presentation is on par with large video production companies.
Wow man. That is some high praise. Honestly, thank you so much for the compliments and taking the time to watch. Hopefully I can hold up to this standard going forward!
When the weather is good with a decent amount of rain I try to get it down to 3 inches. It’s kind of a balancing act though without irrigation during the hot summer in ND
Next time you do a video like this, it would be a really good idea to mention your area and what type of grass you're using. Information on a ryegrass lawn in WA state is entirely different than a warm season grass from someone in Texas.
@@careyedwards5662 Kentucky bluegrass and I'm in Minnesota. Everything I mentioned applies to 90% of grass types. Sorry it wasn't up to your standards. I will improve. Thanks for taking the time to watch
We had literally weeks with index over 100 last summer in Kansas City. Expecting the same this year as it’s been trending that way. I’m not sure taking TTF down to 1-2” is going to give the positive result you are getting. A bias is understandable but there are just too many variables for many of the statements. Powered reel mower adds another expensive tool I just don’t have room for(shed is full). IMO, short turf is a “quality” possible with your turf, weather, and program but not really a universal “goal” of another’s existing turf, weather, and program. Bias understood. Looking great!
Hey Mr. Life, what kind of grass do you have that you are able to cut that dramatically short or at more "normal" lengths? You're in Minnesota I saw in another comment is that right?
a few questions for you since i also live in minnesota, hoping you may have the answers. First, some background. I am currently trying to build a backyard putting green into my existing lawn which is a mix of bluegrass and fescue, i am able to maintain it currently at 1/2 inch cut. I just purchased my first greens mower because i want to get under 1/4 and closer to an 1/8. So my questions are, 1, what type of grass do you have? (i couldnt find it in our videos) 2, do you think you would be able to mow yours under a half inch, if so how short could you go? 3, what are your thoughts on bent grass for a short mow? thanks love the videos, new subscriber.
I live in Seattle, Wa and the HOA police is always checking up on our yards etc. so I keep my front yard pretty tall and mow it on the highest level on my mower which means I have to mow it twice a week to keep the lines and lawn looking pretty and of course to save water. However my lawn is green and I noticed my neighbors keep their lawns short which looks amazing but you can see yellow and dry in their lawn especially in the heat we are having here. My backyard is dried out for now as I'm not watering it as much until the heat wave passes but the front is okay. So yeah I like my front lawn tall and mowed for NOW and when the weather cools down a bit I'll water more and keep it short. Love your videos and always love talking about grass, lawns and Hank Hill stuff. A+++
To get short grass super thick to choke out weeds I found that there's only 2 options: 1. PGR - stunting vertical growth causing the lawn to use its energy for lateral growth and create more growing points 2. Frequent mowing (every other day during growing season) combined with verti-cutting - by cutting stolons you are forcing lateral branching for more growing points Combining PGR with Verticutting and grooming (dethatching) will yield best results from my experience
Great info. Thanks for sharing. I've never tried verticutting to thicken up the turf. I may try a small test plot with this in my backyard to see if there's a difference from just cutting every other day like I am now.
Do you think fall or spring is a better time to transition to reel mowing? Your series about getting into reel mowing is the most honest I've seen. My JD220 is benched until fall because the first few cuts I took with it scared me. Your videos showed me what I'm getting myself into. It's exciting, but I'd rather postpone the ugly duckling phase of transitioning untill the fall when everyone's recovering from summer stress and the variables to wreck my lawn are far fewer.
I transitioned last May and it was good to go by the beginning of June, but as I'm learning this year is weather played a huge role in that. My back yard is struggling to look good because the weather has been so bad. I've seen other people slowly take their grass down a 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch every two weeks and slowly get down to one inch that way. The way I did it definitely is not the only way. Fall would be a great time to transition because you can fertilize the hell out of it after you scalp and have no repercussions. You can push the recovery process a lot faster in the fall if you want to go the scalping route.
IMO short grass and long enough grass can deal with weed pressure. But anything in the middle will not because short grass just eliminate the possibility of weed growth and long enough grass keeps weed from sunshine. But short grass just keeps weeds away all the time as long as thick enough. But long grass you need to wait it is high enough and weeds sometimes just come before that and preemergent is necessary
Also if you have tall fescue, which a lot of people do because it's drought resistant with summers getting hotter in the northern states, then you shouldn't cut it that short. Kentucky bluegrass seems to be what you want if you're in the north states and want to have short grass.
I live in Miami, I have Bermuda , if I want to make my grass looks like yours do I need to replace the grass entirely? Or any suggestions steps you can provide
How long would you guys say it takes before your carpet of grass gets that dense to cover the ground? My understanding is that the more you now along with keeping it shorter, the more the grass will spread.
You're exactly right with the more you mow and keeping it shorter the more it will spread. Depending on the time of year you do this and how much fertilizer you hit it with, I'd say 1-2 months to get super dense. It doesn't take that long.
@@LAWNLIFEI live in WA state and we're having plenty of 80 degrees days. Would it be silly to start dripping the mower now to try to thicken? Can I thicken without pgr?
Looking to make the transition to short cut. I have a bare area that I will be seeing. In the past I'd wait till the grass was around 3" before the first mow but if I'm looking to maintain around 1" shouldn't I cut a little earlier to get the grass used to the lower HOC?
Thanks for this honest video! I have been wanting to get into reel mowing and cutting low and this helped make my decision easier. I’ll be staying long for a few more years as my kids are young and time is always a factor. You’re in MN right?
Yeah I have two young kids and it's super tough to keep up. Especially making videos now. Don't know how I'm not divorced yet lol. But yes, I'm in Minnesota!
Good video! Just remember that it doesn’t matter the height at which you cut, as it does the number of times a week you cut to thicken up the lawn. I cut my Bluegrass/Fescue mix lawn at 3.25” in the summer 3-4 times a week. It is ridiculously thick. Also there’s no weeds because of how think it’s is…..
Thanks for watching Tim! I mowed a ton with my tall grass and it was never as thick as I wanted it to be for some reason. Glad it's working for you though!
Are there any tips to help grass fill in when you cut it shorter? I've tried moving my length down, but it just looks super super thin. Cutting 2-3 times a week to make sure I'm only taking a little bit off. I think I've let it grow a bit too long in the past, because the thicker grass stems are quite high and the blades don't start until higher up the stem than normal.
Here's a video I did talking about spoon feeding your lawn: czcams.com/video/23AdwZKeD8g/video.html I also hit on fertilizer in this video: czcams.com/video/_sHyRjhwZvg/video.html
Quick question i just went to short a few weeks ago i have cut it down a little short than i wanted to and i over seeded early spring my question is should i dethatch now or wait to the fall, i live in Indy by the way.
I would have dethatched after bringing it down and not overseeded. If you dethatch now you're going to tear out a lot of baby grass. I'd wait until fall to dethatch now unless you have a ton of yellow matted down in your short grass, not allowing it to thicken up.
@@LAWNLIFE well i may just go ahead and do it and stay on top of it I’m learning as i go and your has been a big help thanks and keep the videos coming
I'm located in Minnesota and have Kentucky Bluegrass. I have never overseeded my grass, the KBG fills itself in. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@LAWNLIFE This is all new to me as I am relatively a new home owner. I am in Eden Prairie, MN as well. Had to remove a huge maple tree on the front yard last year which was blocking sun and it looked horrible. Got the entire yard filled with dirt/tilled and hydroseeded last spring but still have bald patches. I overseeded with Jonathan green black beauty ultra again last fall and still patchy. Plan is to dethatch/scarify this fall and overseed a final time with greenview TTTF. Hopefully that will give a carpet turf which I love. Nothing against short cut grass but I am way too lazy/thrifty to maintain.Any other brand that you recommend?
Short grass won't last most summers as far as staying green. I've tried this the last several years at 1.75" and it turned brown even with adequate 1 inch plus a week of water. Longer turf is better for me anyway in the summer, Live in the Northeast.
Thanks for subbing man! I actually have a test plot going in my backyard and I have a bluebank monostand as one of the plots. I might want to pick your brain on your thoughts after the video drops.
@@LAWNLIFE I have a couple small videos on youtube when I had bewitched and then did a complete reno last Sept and planted the Bluebank. I have an Instagram account also that I have been posting more often. SuperTA329
3 inches is super tall grass! at least where i live. would look like you never cut your grass. i do 1.6 inch. that's about where everyone tells you to cut it at
americans call 15mm short hahaha...we call that long..5mm is short .3mm is even better..obviously its bent grass.mowing everyday and knocking the dew off in the morning becomes a pain in the arse tbh
@@LAWNLIFE at the moment im working with mud lol..ive ripped the washboard garden up to replace it with a level golf green.straight edge up all the way around and a set of double ladders that reach from one side to the other.i will send pics
Thank you for putting this together. I’ve got the confidence to go short now, just need to find the mower. Just one question - did you do any leveling?
I did not and my front yard has some small "hills" in it. Definitely not completely flat and I don't have any issues. My backyard is super bumpy and I don't think I'd have any major issues mowing with the greensmaster back there. Just wouldn't be as enjoyable.
I love the knitted look of short grass but the loss in color just breaks my heart to watch. The green and blue hues just really come out when the grass is 3-4" long.
It's the only thing I hate about cutting short. You're spot on with this comment
Question, can you get darker blue color back at by adding some nitrogen to the soil?
If you mow more often the grass will be trained to grow horizontally creating the carpet look also staying green. Golf baseball and most professional athletic fields mow almost everyday
Other advantages of tall grass: 1) Tall grass works better for a shady lawn. Long grass blades can harvest more sun and make more food. Your lovely lawn seems to be full sun, front and back, which gives you extra options. 2) Long grass works best for uneven, hilly lawns. A reel mower at 5/8 inch would scalp my lawn's rolling landscape - especially when I change mowing directions. 3) You can leave clippings in tall grass, but not in super short grass. Because I've left all clippings on my lawn for 20 years, my lawn has added an inch of topsoil and now rises above the adjoining sidewalk. 4) Taller grass is self-watering, in the sense that it harvests bucket loads more dew than short grass. Many mornings this spring my lawn has been sopping wet from overnight dew, while my neighbors' shorter lawns are barely damp.
I have a suburban lawn in Minnesota, as do you. I cut my Kentucky blue grass at four inches - my mower's highest setting. The rich, deep green, luscious salad lawn feels to me like a vibrant jungle teaming with life. (Over five inches, grass attracts mice and snakes.)
These are all great points. I'm sure there are plenty more of these facts also. As far the hilly lawn statement, a greensmower at 5/8ths of an inch is way more forgiving than you can imagine. My lawn is nowhere near level and it does just fine with it. It's hard to tell from the video but it's definitely not flat. I used the greensmaster on the back yard (which is unbelievably bumpy and uneven) to scalp it this year and it did way better than I would've imagined. Just thought I'd throw that out there, but you definitely stated some good information!
@@LAWNLIFE what type of grass do you have? TTTF can't be cut really short from what I've heard.
Bermuda grass thrives when cut short. I leave my clippings in the lawn and haven't had any issue, despite keeping the lawn short.
I love my long grass, when the wind blows I see a luscious green sea swoosh and waves. I see nature. Peaceful and serene. Not a harsh OCD crew cut, which makes me think the homeowner is …”one of those.”
🤣🤣 I guess I'm one of those. I have nothing against long grass and am glad you enjoy it!
🤣
Dang that’s brutal. “One of those.” Really?! 😅
Short grass is ultimate when your lawn is fully leveled. Unfortunately i am far from it so i keep my tahoma 31 at 3 inches. I cut about 4 times a week to maintain the box look. Awesome vid on the cocktail for lawns.
Thanks John. You'd be surprised on how un-level my lawn actually is. That's why I can't get straight stripes to save my life! Thanks for watching!
Yeah we live in a half up / down hill it sucks man. I wanna cut short but the dips and shit will make me cut deeper on certain spots
I definitely agree about the weed issues of long vs short grass. The long grass allows weeds to thrive vs the pressure from short grass.
It's the same with weeds if you leave soil undisturbed you will get 100's of tiny weeds but if you let them grow like a foot tall then cut them back you will find only a handful of weeds in same area just there all huge.
Density and light defo the main factors
The problem with 3" grass is it probably still isn't tall enough to fully shade out the soil from weeds.
Any creeping weeds will love long grass.
As a low cut cool season guy I can conquer that way more people complement my lawn. Only downside is when I’m pressed for time and they ask for pointers
I’ve stopped using high nitrogen fertilizer rather than a PGR. I have transitioned to focusing on soil health in my lawn. This is the first year I’m doing that and my lawn looks better this year than it ever has. Thanks for the video
Lots of good comments and another informative video. Your presentations are crisp, clear and to the point with no hype. Bravo Zulu. However, cutting your grass short requires a very well leveled lawn. Leveling is labor intensive and tiring so I'll just keep my grass blades at a medium height.
Mowing short can look great but I just can’t put the time in to maintain a short lawn. I keep it around 2.5 inches or so and it stays looking pretty great mowing 1-2 times a week depending on the time of year
Mowing short helps with weeds because some of the weeds won’t tolerate being mowed short and frequently.
I think u hit everything. I always notice the loss in color with the short grass. I think people are conditioned to like the shorter grass because it looks more like carpet.
I live in the south, zone 8, with bermuda grass. The trick to keeping bermuda green and healthy is to keep it short. I reel mow my lawn and edge with an electric mower so that I don't inhale too many fumes because I do mow frequently during the growing season. The grass was dormant during winter and the hottest weeks of summer (100F high for weeks on end). I didn't mow my lawn for three months from end of December til end of March this year. I was growing some early spring wild flowers and mustard in the lawn, but now that the grow season is on, I need to mow at least once a week for best results, twice if I want the best lawn in the neighborhood. Reel mowing is easier when the grass is short as well.
What zone are you in, and what grass is that?
Long grass is a breeding ground for pests, snakes, spiders, scorpions, and wasps. For that reason alone, I have to keep my grass short. 😅😊😂
Damn dude, that turf is thick! Working on mine to get to the point this summer. I have yet to use PGR, but it is on my list for this year. I think it will help me achieve what I am looking for. Great content and keep it up!
Thanks man! I've noticed the more and more I mowed, the thicker the turf became. I didn't do anything special to "thicken" it up, it just kind of naturally got thicker the lower I went. PGR is great for color and for mowing frequency. It's a win-win. You can also put in Nitrogen and Iron in the same tank mix and kill 3 birds with one stone!
So glad you answered this question as I've been wondering the sane thing for so long! Thanks jesse!
No offense, I personally don't think it's because of how short you grass is at all but because of the sexy stripes you made on the field and the dark green together. That make people go crazy.
Man I'm jealous of the green you have. I'm scare to use fertilizer because of my bad experiences with milorganite.
No offense taken, that could be true also!
I'm very curious, what bad experience did you have with Milorganite? I don't hear this very often..
@@LAWNLIFE I had brought new st Augustine grass and put them down. They were healthy-looking, growing nice and thick for a while. One day I had a desire that overtook me to make them greener because I have seen some people at some places with a dark green grass-like yours.
I went online to investigate; some people talk significantly about milorganite and that it doesn't burn lawn, so I took my chance.
A grave mistake, after I put the grain down, for some reason unknown, some part of the grass started to turn yellow, like when someone accidentally drops bleach on a blue jean. I try my best to irrigate the grass to flush it down or stop this madness. Some couple of days pass, they turn to a disgusting brownish, dark, wet color. It's like there was a virus eating the grass secretly.
I replace most of the grass; I'm still confused. Why it burns if they say it doesn't burn? Some People thought that maybe my grass was unhealthy, but it was not so.
Short grass by far a lot better. Cutting mind every 2to 3 days.. get compliments on my short grass.
Got the itch to reel mow and know I would need to renovate again after two years of TTTF/KBG. Kids are playing baseball so don’t have the time. Maybe when they are older. But damn the low cut looks damn good. I didn’t think it was a big deal before coming from having no knowledge and seeing well manicured lawns. But I see it now!!!
I feel cutting grass short put stress on the roots and over time the grass then starts to die out. Also i prefer the look of taller grass...looks more natural...real...
Well said man. I'm new to reel mowing and can agree on all topics.
Thanks for watching man. Reel mowing definitely has it's highs and lows, but it's so awesome if you have the time to commit to it. Hope you're enjoying it. I'll have steady content coming all summer hopefully!
@@LAWNLIFE Good deal man I like your channel. I can tell you're very knowledgeable.
Thank you for putting this together. I’ve got the confidence to go short now, just need to find the mower. Just one question - did you do any leveling?
You defo need a very flat lawn for short grass else the mower will rip out chunks of your lawn where you have bumps.
Long grass is the best. When I build my house, I'm going to have REALLLLLLY long grass..... about 50 FEET long/tall. Of course I'm not talking about my lawn, but rather the bamboo grove I'm going to grow, after all bamboo is grass. But yeah, when it comes to a lawn, I agree short grass looks better.
Solid video man. Lots of great points made.
Thank you bro. I've been a long time subscriber of yours. I love your content. Kinda shocked seeing your name in my comments to be honest lol. I appreciate it!
I keep my grass at 2 inches. Short enough to look good without having to buy a reel mower. I cut my grass twice per week. Ever since going from 4 to 2 inches, I no longer have to deal with a lot of weeds
just found you channel and LOVE it...great content man
Thanks man. I truly appreciate that!
Awesome video 👍🏾
Thanks man! I appreciate the support.. Especially coming from you!
Hi John, what's wrong with setting a standard rotary mower to it's lowest setting vs. the reel mower to obtain a short cut? I understand that a reel mower will give a cleaner cut but is there any other reason not to use a rotary to get the short cut?
It's the crazy price of those reel mowers that are a deal breaker for me.
Great vid 👍Greetings from Poland🇵🇱
Looks like I’m just south of you in CR. I scalped, Sun Joe dethached, and overseeded with a low mow Jacklin KGB blend last fall. I was really surprised how little grass I actually had after taking it low; it always looked full when it was long. I did start running into bottoming out issues if go lower than 1 inch with my 7 blade manual reel. I’m going to slowly work on leveling this year, but I think it would make a huge difference having a powered reel with a drum drive, instead of wheels, on an uneven lawn.
How is the grass looking now this spring? It surprised me how thin everything was when I first scalped too because it looks super thick when it's long. I'm having the same issue in my backyard with uneveness with the manual real. When that happens I just cut the opposite way in that area and it usually helps. The drum does make a huge difference for scalping because when I scalped my backyard with the Greensmaster I had no issues with it bottoming out. Keep in touch since you're so close man!
My results were just OK. Last fall got cold early and I didn’t have a lot of tillering, so I did a dormant seeding in November and put a little more seed down today. I did a soil test and I had very low potassium, so I’m going to try getting that higher with sulfate of potash 0-0-50 throughout the season. My goal was to just get more bluegrass in my yard since I had a lot of rye and fine fescue. My goals may be changing to a full renovation. I was one of those new homeowners (in 2002) that would overseed with whatever seed was cheap. Usually something from Fleet Farm. Unfortunately, I did find that my creeping red fescue backyard has no problem with a low cut. It used to be shaded out with oaks and fine fescue was the only thing that seemed to do well. I was hoping I could cut it low and have the KGB take over. I’ll look for you on TLF.
Hi. I have a couple of questions to understand why your front lawn has become so dense. Do you think that just cutting it short causes the grass over time to become more full and dense? If is, do you know why that is? Also, how long did it take for your short grass to get used to being cut low and begin to become noticeable thicker? Lastly, what type of grass do you have and what area of the country do you live in? I am in the northeast so I have a blend of grass types (PRG, TTTF and KBG). Overall KBG seems to look the best when cut low but it also can struggle in the heat where I live. Thanks! Chris
Those answers would be interesting to read (good questions).
What type of grass you have in your lawn. It looks like amazing
I was going to say, I think short grass stripes better than long grass, you have more definition. And for the color I think if you keep training your grass at a certain height for a while it'll keep the dark green color.
Another criteria would be playability - How does the lawn FEEL under your feet? Short Vs Long.
Excellent video, thanks for sharing. 👍
My neighbours compliment me on my grass all the time..They say 'its really good shit'
I have long grass but I would prefer short grass, looks much better and I think less chance for insects to hide. I think it also depends on the type of grass, right? I have Bermuda, but I may need a higher quality grass type.
I wonder how much your quality low-cut lawn is allowed by the fact you kept it longer and let it get nice and thick before you cut it short.
The quality and quantity of information and science in this channel is the like a crash course equivalent to a phd degree in lawn care and botanic and the care in the presentation is on par with large video production companies.
Wow man. That is some high praise. Honestly, thank you so much for the compliments and taking the time to watch. Hopefully I can hold up to this standard going forward!
@@LAWNLIFEtwo years later, and so far you've kept up! Props Jesse.
If you use plant growth regulator pgr on your lawn. This will also reduce your water bill.
When the weather is good with a decent amount of rain I try to get it down to 3 inches. It’s kind of a balancing act though without irrigation during the hot summer in ND
Next time you do a video like this, it would be a really good idea to mention your area and what type of grass you're using. Information on a ryegrass lawn in WA state is entirely different than a warm season grass from someone in Texas.
Noted. Thanks for the feedback.
Your absolutely right. No mention of the grass type and location. Not worth watching.
@@careyedwards5662 Kentucky bluegrass and I'm in Minnesota. Everything I mentioned applies to 90% of grass types. Sorry it wasn't up to your standards. I will improve. Thanks for taking the time to watch
We had literally weeks with index over 100 last summer in Kansas City. Expecting the same this year as it’s been trending that way. I’m not sure taking TTF down to 1-2” is going to give the positive result you are getting. A bias is understandable but there are just too many variables for many of the statements. Powered reel mower adds another expensive tool I just don’t have room for(shed is full). IMO, short turf is a “quality” possible with your turf, weather, and program but not really a universal “goal” of another’s existing turf, weather, and program.
Bias understood. Looking great!
Hey Mr. Life, what kind of grass do you have that you are able to cut that dramatically short or at more "normal" lengths? You're in Minnesota I saw in another comment is that right?
a few questions for you since i also live in minnesota, hoping you may have the answers. First, some background. I am currently trying to build a backyard putting green into my existing lawn which is a mix of bluegrass and fescue, i am able to maintain it currently at 1/2 inch cut. I just purchased my first greens mower because i want to get under 1/4 and closer to an 1/8. So my questions are, 1, what type of grass do you have? (i couldnt find it in our videos) 2, do you think you would be able to mow yours under a half inch, if so how short could you go? 3, what are your thoughts on bent grass for a short mow? thanks love the videos, new subscriber.
I live in Seattle, Wa and the HOA police is always checking up on our yards etc. so I keep my front yard pretty tall and mow it on the highest level on my mower which means I have to mow it twice a week to keep the lines and lawn looking pretty and of course to save water. However my lawn is green and I noticed my neighbors keep their lawns short which looks amazing but you can see yellow and dry in their lawn especially in the heat we are having here. My backyard is dried out for now as I'm not watering it as much until the heat wave passes but the front is okay. So yeah I like my front lawn tall and mowed for NOW and when the weather cools down a bit I'll water more and keep it short. Love your videos and always love talking about grass, lawns and Hank Hill stuff. A+++
Great video, thanks!
What about in between. Rotary mower all the way on the lowest setting? How does that stack up against long grass?
To get short grass super thick to choke out weeds I found that there's only 2 options:
1. PGR - stunting vertical growth causing the lawn to use its energy for lateral growth and create more growing points
2. Frequent mowing (every other day during growing season) combined with verti-cutting - by cutting stolons you are forcing lateral branching for more growing points
Combining PGR with Verticutting and grooming (dethatching) will yield best results from my experience
Great info. Thanks for sharing. I've never tried verticutting to thicken up the turf. I may try a small test plot with this in my backyard to see if there's a difference from just cutting every other day like I am now.
How did you transition from a rotary to a reel mower? Mowing height transition process? Lawn Leveling?
Watch my very first video I posted
Hi ya, new subscriber here from the UK, great video
Awesome! Thank you!
How do i get rid of weeds and thicken lawn by overseeding when 2,4-d and other herbicides prevent grass seed germination?
Do you think fall or spring is a better time to transition to reel mowing?
Your series about getting into reel mowing is the most honest I've seen. My JD220 is benched until fall because the first few cuts I took with it scared me. Your videos showed me what I'm getting myself into. It's exciting, but I'd rather postpone the ugly duckling phase of transitioning untill the fall when everyone's recovering from summer stress and the variables to wreck my lawn are far fewer.
I transitioned last May and it was good to go by the beginning of June, but as I'm learning this year is weather played a huge role in that. My back yard is struggling to look good because the weather has been so bad. I've seen other people slowly take their grass down a 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch every two weeks and slowly get down to one inch that way. The way I did it definitely is not the only way. Fall would be a great time to transition because you can fertilize the hell out of it after you scalp and have no repercussions. You can push the recovery process a lot faster in the fall if you want to go the scalping route.
@@LAWNLIFE thank you for the feedback! Keep up the good work and quality content!
@@andrewszabo1552 thanks man! I appreciate you tuning in. Let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions for videos!
Thanks much for sharing your lawn care and info! I am learning to care for my grass. I am going to watch your shows...
Great video 👍 got yourself another follower
Thanks man! I appreciate the subscription! I'm hoping to drop regular content all season.
IMO short grass and long enough grass can deal with weed pressure. But anything in the middle will not because short grass just eliminate the possibility of weed growth and long enough grass keeps weed from sunshine. But short grass just keeps weeds away all the time as long as thick enough. But long grass you need to wait it is high enough and weeds sometimes just come before that and preemergent is necessary
Also if you have tall fescue, which a lot of people do because it's drought resistant with summers getting hotter in the northern states, then you shouldn't cut it that short. Kentucky bluegrass seems to be what you want if you're in the north states and want to have short grass.
How often did you water in the hot summer with the short grass?
I live in Miami, I have Bermuda , if I want to make my grass looks like yours do I need to replace the grass entirely? Or any suggestions steps you can provide
First Aussie 😁. Solid video there mate. 😎👍👍
How long would you guys say it takes before your carpet of grass gets that dense to cover the ground? My understanding is that the more you now along with keeping it shorter, the more the grass will spread.
You're exactly right with the more you mow and keeping it shorter the more it will spread. Depending on the time of year you do this and how much fertilizer you hit it with, I'd say 1-2 months to get super dense. It doesn't take that long.
@@LAWNLIFEI live in WA state and we're having plenty of 80 degrees days. Would it be silly to start dripping the mower now to try to thicken? Can I thicken without pgr?
Looking to make the transition to short cut. I have a bare area that I will be seeing. In the past I'd wait till the grass was around 3" before the first mow but if I'm looking to maintain around 1" shouldn't I cut a little earlier to get the grass used to the lower HOC?
Yes. Start cutting at your intended HOC or maybe a little bit longer.
Thanks for this honest video! I have been wanting to get into reel mowing and cutting low and this helped make my decision easier. I’ll be staying long for a few more years as my kids are young and time is always a factor. You’re in MN right?
Yeah I have two young kids and it's super tough to keep up. Especially making videos now. Don't know how I'm not divorced yet lol. But yes, I'm in Minnesota!
@@LAWNLIFE Lol! Well I like the videos! I’m in mn myself. Out in Buffalo.
@@brandongladu7202 Thanks man. I'll be dropping them all summer. I'm just over in Andover. So not too far from you!
Nice video
Didn't even think people cut at 3-4" is that a usa thing? Here in the UK i cut at 1" and don't really consider it short
Great video man, love the channel!!
Thanks Eric! I appreciate you tuning in!
Great video man!!
8g
Just subbed good vid
Is it possible to cut your grass short with a rotary mower are do you have to use a reel mower
Good video! Just remember that it doesn’t matter the height at which you cut, as it does the number of times a week you cut to thicken up the lawn. I cut my Bluegrass/Fescue mix lawn at 3.25” in the summer 3-4 times a week. It is ridiculously thick. Also there’s no weeds because of how think it’s is…..
Thanks for watching Tim! I mowed a ton with my tall grass and it was never as thick as I wanted it to be for some reason. Glad it's working for you though!
What about something in between like 1.5" ?
Hey man can you do phone consultation? I got some questions pertaining to my lawn…smh
How did you get it so dense and full
Is there such thing as medium grass like 1-2 inches? Sorry I'm new to this.
Are there any tips to help grass fill in when you cut it shorter? I've tried moving my length down, but it just looks super super thin. Cutting 2-3 times a week to make sure I'm only taking a little bit off. I think I've let it grow a bit too long in the past, because the thicker grass stems are quite high and the blades don't start until higher up the stem than normal.
What kind of grass do you have?
What type of fertilizer to use and how many times Do you fertilize per year?
Here's a video I did talking about spoon feeding your lawn: czcams.com/video/23AdwZKeD8g/video.html
I also hit on fertilizer in this video: czcams.com/video/_sHyRjhwZvg/video.html
What happens at 1.5 to 2”?
Quick question i just went to short a few weeks ago i have cut it down a little short than i wanted to and i over seeded early spring my question is should i dethatch now or wait to the fall, i live in Indy by the way.
I would have dethatched after bringing it down and not overseeded. If you dethatch now you're going to tear out a lot of baby grass. I'd wait until fall to dethatch now unless you have a ton of yellow matted down in your short grass, not allowing it to thicken up.
@@LAWNLIFE well i may just go ahead and do it and stay on top of it I’m learning as i go and your has been a big help thanks and keep the videos coming
Great vids, hope the channel gains alot more subs for you.
Love the video brother!!! You will grow this channel.
👍
Tall grass rules, short grass drools.
😂😂
Main question. What grass type do you have? Is that KBG?
Yes it is. I'll be better at mentioning that at the beginning of videos
Can Tall fescue be shorter than 3 inches I heard it has to be tall 🤔
I’m a Milo and Lesco guy in Central Minnesota. How often do you recommend application? Thank you
For the Milo I would follow the bag rate for the year and then blast it with fast release nitrogen in the fall. I've never used Lesco so I'm not sure.
@@LAWNLIFE 6
Where are you located? What grass do you have? How often do you overseed please?
I'm located in Minnesota and have Kentucky Bluegrass. I have never overseeded my grass, the KBG fills itself in. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@LAWNLIFE This is all new to me as I am relatively a new home owner. I am in Eden Prairie, MN as well. Had to remove a huge maple tree on the front yard last year which was blocking sun and it looked horrible. Got the entire yard filled with dirt/tilled and hydroseeded last spring but still have bald patches. I overseeded with Jonathan green black beauty ultra again last fall and still patchy. Plan is to dethatch/scarify this fall and overseed a final time with greenview TTTF. Hopefully that will give a carpet turf which I love. Nothing against short cut grass but I am way too lazy/thrifty to maintain.Any other brand that you recommend?
You say type of grass when you mean height of grass. What type of grass? Fescue, Rye, KBG?
Looks aside, Short grass feels 100x better when your barefoot
That depends on the type of grass you have. St. Aug that's thick short is a no go.
Long grass,short grass, its a matter of opinion. 😂
Short grass won't last most summers as far as staying green. I've tried this the last several years at 1.75" and it turned brown even with adequate 1 inch plus a week of water. Longer turf is better for me anyway in the summer, Live in the Northeast.
Interesting. What kind of grass do you have? Cultivars may matter in this case.
4 inches..... no choice....just don't have the time...and longer grass snuffs out the weeds (not allowed herbicides in our municipality)
New sub. I'm with you on short grass. Loving my Bluebank KBG.
Thanks for subbing man! I actually have a test plot going in my backyard and I have a bluebank monostand as one of the plots. I might want to pick your brain on your thoughts after the video drops.
@@LAWNLIFE I have a couple small videos on youtube when I had bewitched and then did a complete reno last Sept and planted the Bluebank. I have an Instagram account also that I have been posting more often. SuperTA329
@@SuperTA329 just subbed to both. Will be watching your videos tonight. At first glance it looks good!
3 inches is super tall grass! at least where i live. would look like you never cut your grass. i do 1.6 inch. that's about where everyone tells you to cut it at
Could some of the dense growth be due to the PGR?
Short grass has to be extra full to not show dead spots if full looks great.
It thickens up on it's own if you have KBG and mow very regularly.
Seems like long grass is better
where do you live? wondering if short grass is possible without crazy expense...
americans call 15mm short hahaha...we call that long..5mm is short .3mm is even better..obviously its bent grass.mowing everyday and knocking the dew off in the morning becomes a pain in the arse tbh
Quit making fun of us 😂😂. Send me some pictures of what you're working with! I want to see it! lawnlifewithjesse@gmail.com
@@LAWNLIFE at the moment im working with mud lol..ive ripped the washboard garden up to replace it with a level golf green.straight edge up all the way around and a set of double ladders that reach from one side to the other.i will send pics
Short grass looks stupid and does not feel good on your feet.
Long grass is out dated and looks unkept.. ugly! Short grass is the best way to keep grass.. keep it low.
Great video, thanks!
Thank you for putting this together. I’ve got the confidence to go short now, just need to find the mower. Just one question - did you do any leveling?
I did not and my front yard has some small "hills" in it. Definitely not completely flat and I don't have any issues. My backyard is super bumpy and I don't think I'd have any major issues mowing with the greensmaster back there. Just wouldn't be as enjoyable.