Scalping Your Lawn: Dos & Don’ts
You’ve had to suffer through looking at brown grass all winter long. It’s time for your lush lawn to reappear this spring. You want to start the season off on the right foot, right? Give your lawn a fresh start by scalping your lawn.
We’re in the business of creating Lush Lawns that are Barefoot Good, all year round. Contact us today for a FREE lawn consultation!
What is Lawn Scalping?
Lawn scalping (or grass scalping) is when you cut your grass significantly low so that the stems of your grass are exposed. Scalping your lawn gets rid of any build-up from the winter and exposes your soil to sunlight. Ultimately, scalping your lawn stimulates your grass to grow. If it’s done wrong, your grass will show it. Below, we’ve provided a list of lawn scalping do’s and don’ts so that your lush lawn can flourish.
How to Scalp Your Lawn
Do: Drop your mower cutting height down to ½ – 1 inch and begin mowing. Lawn scalping creates a good bit of debris, so it will be necessary to haul off all the old, dead plant material that is removed during the lawn scalping process.
Don’t: Bag this material and send it to the landfill. Landfills are not appropriate sites for disposing of yard waste. Instead, use the debris in your own compost pile or send it to a city or commercially owned compost site.
Do: Take caution to not overdo scalping on lawns with heavy thatch—especially on St. Augustine grass. If the active stolons (runners) are in the upper portion of the thatch, scalping may cause a tremendous amount of damage to these vital plant parts and result in turf injury and even death.
When to Scalp Your Lawn
Don’t: Scalp too early. Scalping too early may injure the turfgrass by exposing plant parts such as stolons and crowns to frost or extremely low temperatures. If delayed until the grass is actively growing, scalping will result in turf stress and shock the grass plant to the point that it slows growth until it can recover.
Do: Go ahead and scalp your lawn in early spring so as not to cause any stress or injury to it by trying to wait until later in the season.
Lawn Scalping, From The Experts
If you’re not a landscape expert or busy with other spring tasks, we’ve got it covered. Call Waynes 866-WAYNES1, our Service Professionals are standing by ready to help! Not only will your lawn be green, but your neighbors will be green with envy when your lawn is the first to become lush this spring.
Even if it’s not quite time to scalp your lawn, there are several other ways to give your lawn the TLC it needs to grow happy and healthy, no matter the season. If you need lawn maintenance, fertilizing services, tree and shrub care, soil testing, or insect management for those pesky plant-hungry pests, we do it all. Contact us today to learn more!
