Large-Scale & Commercial Mowing

We can lessen this stress by limiting the amount of leaf blade removed during mowing to 33% or less.

Particularly during late spring and summer, this may require us to mow weekly—something unavoidable for healthy turf. Infrequent mowing and removing more than one-third of the leaf blade lead to excessive stress. This has been proven to reduce root growth and can even completely halt it for a period of 6 to 12 days. Additionally, the lower the height of the cut, the greater the impact on the turf’s ability to retain water, further decreasing its capacity to photosynthesise. We must balance this aspect against the functionality of the turf.

If we aim to produce a high-quality soccer pitch, it doesn’t matter if allowing the grass to grow longer will improve its health because the soccer ball will not roll. We face a balance between functionality and practicality. To put this into perspective, a golf green will be mowed every day (cut between 2.2 and 3.2mm) because leaving it longer than that will cause excessive stress for such a low-cut turf surface to recover from.

There are also other factors that can either cause or reduce stress.

A cylinder mower causes less damage to the leaf blade than a rotary mower because cutting with a cylinder mower is more like using a pair of scissors, whereas a rotary mower tears the leaf blade. This tearing is exacerbated when using a lower-quality machine, as the blade tip speed decreases, and it worsens further with blunt blades.