Lawn mowing is a part of maintaining a lawn and keeping it healthy but sometimes we get aggressive with mowing and mow the lawn too much and too deep and scalping the lawn.
After seeing the result, we get scared of the situation and don’t know what to do. But fear not as I have also gone through this situation and will tell you what to do about it.
So what to do after scalping the lawn?
After scalping, the first thing to do is to moisturize the area which is scalped and try to keep it from drying out as the roots can dry out without leaves very easily. This will make the roots continue the growth and grow back grass leaves and become normal. If you see no growth in the area in the initial week, you need to reseed that area after removing and cleaning the dead sod.
You know what to do after you have scalped your lawn, but what is scalping, and why it is sometimes good for the lawn? Let’s see these things in detail.
What is scalping?
Scalping is when you cut the grass too short and remove all the top of the grass by mowing the area and the area looks like a brown or yellow patch.
Scalping as the name suggests is a kind of removing or scalping the grass from the lawn. If you set the mower height to its lowest and get around a bump it can easily be scalped by the mower or if the blade is not Sharpe to cut the grass properly it can scalp the grass from the ground leaving only the roots behind or just the crown.
Is scalping good or bad?
Scalping is the process of removing all of the leaves from the grass and exposing the brown part or crown of the grass. Scalping is done in the early part of spring on the lawn to give a head start and new growth.
If done properly, the scalping can make the lawn healthy and thick with new grass growth, but if not done purposely or properly in the lawn or at the wrong time, then scalping can destroy a healthy and beautiful lawn. Scalping is also bad for the lawn as it removes all the leaves from the plant it makes it very difficult for the grass to generate or produce energy to grow as all the green part absorbs sunlight and conducts the process of photosynthesis is now scalped from the plant.
So it is sufficient to say that the nature of scalping depends on who is doing it and why. But if you weigh the risk and reward of scalping the lawn it is bad as there are more chances of the lawn getting dry out and dying and not growing back. Which will eventually make you reseed the lawn and start over.
What to do after scalping?
So if you have done scalping on your lawn purposely or have scalped the lawn mistakenly by the mower or some bump got scalped through the blade. So what to do next, what things you can do to restore the lawn.
- In the initial days – so if you see brown patches in your lawn after mowing or the whole lawn is brown after you have scalped it purposely. The first thing to do on the lawn is to water it. Watering is very crucial after scalping as grass contains all its water in the leaves and then utilizes it for growth but after scalping, you have removed all the leaves from the grass and all the moisture content is gone with it.
For a week you need to keep the soil most so that the roots don’t dry out and die as roots still have some energy stored in them which will make them grow new grass leaves in the lawn. In between the watering you need to also provide fast release fertilizer to the lawn which is high in nitrogen to give a boost. These two things will ensure that if the roots are alive and have energy stored in it then the grass will grow back.
- After 1-2 weeks – after watering the lawn lightly for a week and applying fast-release fertilizer, if you see no growth in the lawn and no new grass leaves growing in the lawn then the roots have not been able to recover from the scalping and are now dead. Now you need to reseed your lawn and start over.
For you need to reseed the lawn first clean up the lawn and remove all the dead roots from the soil and then prepare the soil for reseeding the lawn. first
Will the lawn recover from scalping?
Yes, the lawn can recover after scalping it, but the chances are very less as the grass gets destroyed heavily due to scalping and have a lot of stress, and can die very easily. So if do proper scalping and do proper care of the lawn after scalping then only there is a chance that your lawn can survive after scalping.
How to prevent scalping?
To prevent scalping your lawn you need to take care of 3 main things. The leveling of the lawn, the sharpness of the blade, and the height of the mower. If you check all these things and make sure all these are perfect then you won’t have scalping in your lawn. Let’s talk about these things in detail:
- Level it – scalping can happen by mistake on the bumpy area of the lawn when the mower is standing on the lower part of the lawn and the blades can cut through the grass very low on the bump. Make sure while preparing your lawn that it doesn’t have any bumps or any low parts which can disturb the mower height and harm the lawn.
- Have a sharp blade – having a dull blade can destroy the grass but it can also scalp some areas as it will be hard for the blade to cut through the leaves it can pull or scalp the grass from the lawn. So to ensure this you need to shape the mower blade at the start of every season and also check for sharpness every 2-3 months.
- Check the mower height – always before mowing the lawn, check the blade height of the mower. Sometimes the height can be set to the lowest by mistake or the mower can malfunction so to make sure it doesn’t harm your lawn, make a habit of checking the height of the blade every time before you mow the lawn and try to only cut ⅓rd of the grass.
Hope you find out all the answers about scalping and what to do after it. Get Set Gardening!
