Use Appropriate Cutting Height

Never set mower cutting height lower than seven inches in rural areas and five inches in urban areas.
Low cutting (also called “scalping”) is undesirable because it:
  • produces stress in the vegetation, especially during dry, hot conditions, resulting in loss of desirable vegetative cover
  • deprives ground-nesting wildlife of cover
  • increases the number of objects thrown by mowers (objects thrown by mowers represent about 12 percent of all claims against the department each year). Example of root development in relation to top removal. (click in image to see full-size image)
    Figure 2-16. Example of root development in relation to top removal.