Lawn Maintenance Mistakes That Stress Grass Over Time

Cutting Your Grass Too Short

Taller grass means a healthier lawn. It shades the soil surface, keeps the soil from drying out and reduces watering needs. Shaded soil also makes it harder for weeds to get started. If you raise your mowing height, you may even find that the taller grass chokes out existing weeds.

For northern lawns, 3 inches is a great target height. For warm climates, 1-1/2 to 2 inches is best. Chopping your grass down to the ground might seem like a good way to avoid frequent mowing, but this creates serious stress over time. When grass is scalped, it loses its ability to photosynthesize properly and struggles to develop deep, healthy root systems.

Leaving Mower Blades Dull for Too Long

Dull blades also stress grass, making it more susceptible to disease. For best results, sharpen and balance the blade three times during the growing season. A sharp blade creates a clean cut, allowing the grass to heal quickly and resist disease. A dull blade, on the other hand, rips and frays the grass, leaving it vulnerable to browning, fungal issues, and insect infestation.

For most homeowners, blades should be sharpened every 25 hours of use. If you’re mowing large areas or tackling especially thick grass, you might need to sharpen them even more frequently. You’ll know it’s time for a sharpening if your grass looks ragged or uneven after mowing or if clumps of grass are left behind. Many homeowners ignore this crucial step until their lawn starts looking terrible.

Overwatering Your Lawn Throughout the Season

Overwatering encourages shallow roots, pest infestations, fungus growth, and other problems. Overwatered grass can struggle to grow and develop healthy roots. Some estimates are that lawns and landscapes are overwatered by 30 to 300 percent. Based on my experience over the last 30 years of visiting with homeowners and looking at lawn issues and dead or dying trees, this is a fairly accurate estimate.

When you water more than this, your lawn won’t need to develop a deep root structure to get the water it needs. This can dramatically weaken your grass and make it less resilient against temperature changes, particularly during the hot summer months. It is far better to water deeply once per week than to provide a smaller amount of water more frequently, as this encourages deeper root growth. It’s shocking how many people think more water equals better grass, when the opposite is often true.

Fertilizing at the Wrong Times and Rates

The following are some of the most common mistakes that lead to fertilizer burn: Applying more than the label-recommended rate. More is not better in fertilizers or other lawn and garden products. The recommended rates on quality fertilizers optimize the benefits to your plants. Exceeding those rates puts plants at risk for burn.

Fertilizer burn happens when you apply too much fertilizer to a lawn, damaging the grass. The excess fertilizer creates a high concentration of salts in the soil, which draws moisture away from the grass roots. The grass becomes dehydrated and stressed, leading to discoloration and potential death. Quick-release fertilizers will show signs of burn within a day or two. Slow-release fertilizers take longer – usually a few weeks. It’s surprising how quickly grass can go from green to brown when you mess up with fertilizer.

Waiting Too Long Between Mowing Sessions

Mowing is a chore that’s easy to put off – the grass will still be there in a couple days. But delay is bad for your grass. The taller it gets, the more you’ll cut off when you finally mow. And the more you cut off, the more you’ll “shock” the grass. That weakens each individual plant and leads to other problems later on.

When you skip mowing for weeks, you end up removing massive amounts of grass blade in one session. This forces the plant to redirect all its energy toward rebuilding the top growth instead of developing strong roots. The stress compounds over time, making your lawn more vulnerable to drought, disease, and pest problems.

Ignoring Soil Testing for Years

Chronic lawn problems are often about the soil, not the actual grass. Having a soil test done is the best $10 to $15 you can spend. Home and garden centers sell DIY kits, but we recommend working with your local cooperative extension (use the national directory listed at www.csrees.usda.gov/extension), whose experts will pinpoint your soil’s pH level and identify any missing nutrients.

They’ll also prescribe the best course of treatment, for example spreading limestone if the soil is acidic or sulfur if it’s overly alkaline. It’s prudent to do a soil test every few years, though if you just moved into a new home, you may want to do one annually, at least until the desired results start to show. Most people assume grass problems are always about water or bugs, but the real culprit is often hidden in the soil chemistry.

Dethatching When It’s Not Necessary

The idea is to rake up the old woody stems resting at the base of the grass leaves. Dethatching does this, but at great cost to your lawn because it tears up not only the grass but also the roots. It’s rarely a good idea. If you have thatch, it’s probably because you’ve been under watering, over fertilizing and/or consistently mowing when the grass is overgrown.

Many homeowners think annual dethatching is routine maintenance, but it actually creates more problems than it solves. The aggressive raking damages healthy grass crowns and opens up space for weeds to establish. Unless you have an extreme thatch problem (over half an inch), you’re better off addressing the root causes through proper watering and mowing practices.

Applying Fertilizer to Wet Grass

Don’t apply fertilizer to extremely wet grass. The water will cause the fertilizer to stick to the grass blades and burn your lawn. Not to mention that the distribution of the nutrients will be uneven, and you may even experience runoff. Additionally, ensure that you only apply fertilizer to dry grass. If you apply it to wet grass or plants, the fertilizer might burn your lawn. When you apply fertilizer to wet soil, you increase the risk of fertilizer burn.

This mistake is incredibly common after morning dew or light rain. The wet conditions cause granules to clump together and stick to grass blades, creating concentrated burn spots. Plus, you waste money as much of the fertilizer washes away before it can reach the soil where it’s needed.

Bagging Grass Clippings Religiously

Mulch, don’t bag. Your grass clippings are a free source of slow-release fertilizer, so let the mower discharge the clippings back onto your grass rather than bagging them. This can cut fertilizer costs by up to 30 percent. The only time to bag clippings is when your lawn is having a disease breakout, often signaled by irregular brown patches or rings in the lawn.

Countless homeowners spend hours bagging clippings every week, thinking it keeps their lawn looking neat. But those clippings contain valuable nitrogen that feeds the soil as they decompose. By removing them constantly, you’re essentially stealing nutrients from your own grass and forcing yourself to buy more fertilizer to compensate.

Watering at the Wrong Times of Day

Early morning is best, say before 8 a.m., when evaporation rates are low and more water is absorbed into the soil. Watering in the evening leaves grass damp overnight, which can promote fungus growth. Watering first thing in the morning gives your lawn time to dry out. You do not want to water in the evening or early in the night. Unless it is windy and dry out, the leaf blades will remain moist throughout the night. During certain parts of the year moisture on the leaf and soil surface creates the perfect environment for fungal diseases.

Evening watering might seem convenient after work, but it sets up perfect conditions for disease problems. The grass stays wet for eight to ten hours in the dark, which is like rolling out the red carpet for fungal infections. Midday watering wastes water through evaporation, so timing really matters more than most people realize.

Using Chemical Herbicides Without Reading Weather Conditions

You need to kill weeds when they’re growing. That’s because the herbicide is absorbed through the leaves and then sent throughout the rest of the plant. When the weather is too cool, the weed isn’t growing and the herbicide won’t be absorbed, and the chemical isn’t as effective. Too hot and the herbicide will stress the grass.

Pay attention to the details like the rain forecast and what temperature ranges the treatments require. Skip them and you’ll either wreck your lawn or waste your time and money. Many people grab a bottle of weed killer and spray whenever they feel like it, but environmental conditions make or break the effectiveness and safety of these treatments.

Neglecting Proper Drainage Issues

Soil Compaction – In lawns that get too much water, the underlying soil often becomes compacted due to the excess moisture. To grow strong, healthy roots and gain access to air and sunlight, you’ll need to aerate the soil, loosening it up so the roots can spread. Problem: “I have a low spot in my yard that fills with runoff from our downspouts during rainstorms. It’s not a constant problem, but it’s a bear to grow grass there.” Alena, if you have workable soil (not clay), a rain garden is an easy and effective solution for a short-term, isolated drainage problem.

Standing water in certain areas creates long-term stress that kills grass slowly but surely. Poor drainage leads to anaerobic soil conditions where beneficial microorganisms can’t survive, and harmful pathogens thrive. These wet spots become persistent problem areas that frustrate homeowners for years.