Once the snow melts in cold regions and air temperatures start rising, you may be wondering when to start mowing your lawn for the season. Should you start your engines after a warm spell and a soaking rain in early spring? Can you wait for a while and let your lawn grow longer before you have to bust out the mower again? These tips will help you hone in on the key factors to consider so you can time your first spring mowing right.

1. Watch for a Color Change

You don’t need to start mowing your lawn until the grass begins to emerge from dormancy, its long period of rest and no growth. Brown, brittle leaves may make your lawn appear dead, but the crown—the grass plant’s growth point for leaves and roots—is alive and quickly sends up new leaves as soon as conditions are ideal. The right combination of hours of sunlight, air temperature, and moisture spurs grass growth. As soon as your lawn takes on the bright green hue synonymous with all things spring, you can start mowing.

2. Wait for Consistently Warm Temperatures

Along with increasing day length and adequate moisture, daytime temperatures in the 60ºF range prompt cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescues, and ryegrass, to send up new leaves. The grass develops new roots in early spring, long before the green leaves emerge.

Warm-season grasses, such as bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and zoysiagrass, need daytime air temperatures that regularly reach mid-70°F to begin actively growing after winter dormancy.

A short burst of warm days in early spring followed by a return to seasonal temperatures is not enough to encourage these grasses to begin growing. Don’t be concerned about mowing if the forecast predicts a short warm spell.

3. Pay Attention to Grass Height

Once your lawn has turned green again, and the weather is staying consistently warm, is it time to mow? Let grass height be your final guide. Wait for the leaf blades to grow tall enough so that when you do mow, you’ll only trim off a third of the total length.

This is a rule of thumb to follow whether you are mowing in spring for the first time or routinely during summer. Reducing the leaf blade by over one-third compromises a plant’s ability to make energy essential for life. Turf that is suddenly cut short is more vulnerable to pests and diseases as it struggles to maintain its leaves and roots with limited nutrient supply.

Here’s how the one-third rule works: If you want to maintain your turf at 3 inches tall, cut it before it reaches 4½ inches. Spring conditions cause the grass to grow quickly. Watch the height closely so you don’t remove more than one-third of the leaf blade whenever you mow.

Spring Mowing Tips

Once you start mowing in spring, use these tips to keep your lawn healthy and looking its best.

Mow cool-season grass more frequently.

Cool-season types of grass grow fast in spring. Just-right temperatures combined with plentiful moisture can cause grass to grow so fast that you need to mow as often as every four to six days to avoid cutting more than one-third of the leaf blade. This rapid growth of a cool-season lawn will likely end as soon as summer growing conditions are prevalent. Warm-season grasses ramp up growth when the mercury rises; they require more frequent mowing in summer.

Go easy on fertilizer.

Temper rapid spring growth by skipping the early spring fertilizer, which promotes fast green-up and growth. The turf gets enough nutrients from the soil, and from grass clippings left in place. If fertilizer is needed, apply it in late spring after the initial burst of growth.

Leave the clippings.

Grass clippings are free fertilizer. Turf scientists have found that letting finely cut grass clippings filter into the soil replaces one lawn-wide fertilizer application a year. The clippings quickly decompose, adding nutrients to the soil in the process.

Wait to sharpen mower blades.

Wait to sharpen mower blades until after the first two or three times you mow. Sticks and debris often greet mower blades during the first mowing sessions of the season. After a couple of mower passes, debris is cast aside, making it less likely that blades will suffer damage.