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Nfo for the North Central US | University of Nebraska – Lincoln turf.unl.edu Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension education programs abide with the nondiscrimination policies of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture. Keep mowing and don’t set the mower down September 17, 2011 Zac Reicher, Professor of Turfgrass Science, zreicher2@unl.edu Many people ask how long to continue mowing into the fall. The answer is to keep mowing as long as the grass continues to grow, which is normally into late October or early November. Frequency of mowing can decrease, but continue to mow regularly into the fall. Avoid the urge to set the mower down and scalp your lawn for the final mowing. In years past, publications have recommended mowing low late in the fall. About the only advantage to this is that the tree leaves will blow from your lawn into the neighbor's lawn. Agronomically, mowing your lawn low in the last mowing should be avoided because photosynthesis is occurring deep into the fall, well beyond your last mowing. The higher the photosynthesis, the more energy a grass plant will store for winter and next spring, and the healthier the will be next year. Mowing off too much leaf area reduces photosynthetic capacity of a plant, reducing energy storage, and decreasing turf performance next summer. Regular mowing into the fall is also helpful to mulch tree leaves into the lawn, which research has shown to be beneficial (http://turf.unl.edu/pdfctarticles/Octmulchtreeleaves.pdf). Continue mowing at your regular height until the grass stops growing in the late fall, since unmowed tall grass can encourage snow mold in rare years.
