Tempted to mow the lawn post-rainfall? Is it safe? If you’re waiting for a sunny day to mow your lawn, you may be waiting a long time (thanks to the notoriously wet British weather). And while you probably shouldn’t mow your lawn after it’s been raining, It’s always best to wait until the grass is dry before you attempt to cut it. Here’s why:
- Firstly, it can be a dangerous task. Wet lawns can be very slippery, and you don’t want to slip and fall – especially when operating a heavy machine such as a lawnmower.
- Mowing the grass while it is damp typically results in an uneven cut. This is because some grass will be held down by moisture, and the mower blades will miss these bent blades of grass.
- Mould and other lawn diseases thrive in moist environments. Cutting your grass strains and weakens it, making it more vulnerable to illness.
- Wet grass clumps together, and if you mow your lawn after it has rained, you may end up with clumps of damp grass all over it. This is bad news for the areas of grass that lie beneath those large moist clumps.
- Some lawn mowers have difficulty cutting wet grass. Mowing quickly after rain may cause your mower to overheat, depending on the type of mower you use. The previously described clumps of wet grass might also cause clogs.
- Pushing a mower over a damp lawn can contribute to soil compaction and the formation of ruts and depressions on the grass’s surface.
How long should you wait after it rains to mow your lawn?
After a rainstorm, you can mow the lawn as soon as the pavement has dried. Unless it has been raining for days, the grass after rain is usually no worse than a heavy dew in the morning.
Unless it has rained for a whole day or two, or your grass is full of damp leaves and is dirty, it is perfectly safe to mow after only a few hours, especially in the summer on sunny days.
You may even mow your lawn while it is raining lightly without damaging your lawn. How long you should wait after rain before cutting the lawn is determined primarily by the amount of rain that fell.
If there was simply a little shower on an otherwise sunny day, a few hours is all that is required. Waiting a few days is usually the best option if there was a flood or if it rained for a full day or two.
Will it break my lawnmower?
Most of the time, mowing damp grass will not damage your lawnmower. It’s entirely acceptable if you take proper care of your mower as long as it’s light rain and it’s not an electric mower with an extension cord.
Powerful mowers can readily cut wet grass, but if your mower is suffering, you can lift the deck a little to make it easier to cut and make your lawn healthier.
Many individuals in the UK live in rainy places where there is little dry grass throughout the week, therefore they must mow whenever possible. And their mowers are in fantastic working order.
This is true in many regions throughout the spring season. They will not only mow their lawns and business premises soon after rain, but they will also mow during light rain.
All you have to do is keep an eye on how your mower works and clean it on a regular basis. Grass clumps will gather on the wheels and under the deck, which you will have to clear every time. Set your mower to side discharge the grass if it is having problems bagging the grass. Then, once it has dried a little, you can mow over the clippings again.
You can blast clippings about with your blower to help them dry faster, or rake them and mow them again once they’ve dried. Maintain the sharpness of your mower blades and the cleanliness of your mower deck.
Mowing with dull blades puts extra strain on your mower and causes it to shred the grass instead of cut it. Maintaining the sharpness will keep your grass healthy and disease-free, especially in wet weather.
Always clean your mower after cutting wet grass since wet grass forms clumps and sticks to your deck. If left like this, it will quickly become a moldy mess, therefore cleaning your mower will ensure that it is capable of running correctly and providing a healthy cut.
How to mow met grass:
If you really must mow a damp lawn, make sure to follow all safety procedures. First, determine the saturation of the soil. You should not be able to sink into your grass or see water rising around the edges of your shoes when standing on it—mowing through so much water is a bad idea.
You could theoretically tame your yard to some extent without the presence of standing water by opting for a stable gas-powered mower with sharp blades.
Set your mower to side-discharge mode if possible; while this leaves rows of chopped grass on your lawn for hand bagging later, it will spare you the hassle of dealing with a wet mower bag.
Finally, adjust your mower deck to one of the higher settings to ensure that your blades are no shorter than 3 or 4 inches long. When dealing with a damp lawn, it’s difficult for a lawnmower to obtain a close shave, so give it some leeway if you want it to do its job as well as it can.
Even if you’re attempting to keep up with lawn care in less-than-ideal conditions, following these simple rules of thumb can keep you safe.
