Is there a danger of mowing grass too short?

First of all, what is too short? The standard practice is to cut the grass between 2 and 3 ½ inches during the season. When the grass blade is shorter than 2 inches, then there are issues such as exposing the crown of the plant.

Whether you have native grass such as buffalo or Blue Gamma or a non-native grass such as Kentucky Blue, cutting the grass too short causes problems. Starting off with shorter grass from the winter and gradually adjusting to 3 or 3 ½ inches is fine. Keeping the grass at a height of 2 inches during the winter is beneficial against diseases such as snow mold.

We damage our grass when we mow it too short by removing most of the grass blade and create need for deep watering on a regular basis. The grass blades help to shade out some of the weeds and the crown of the plant. Once you mow your buffalo grass lawn too short, it begins to develop a thatch layer much faster. The thatch will also be thicker. Exposing the crown and having much less of a leaf blade will reduce the health of the lawn.

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