Scalping means cutting grass down to at least 1 inch. And the reason for scalping is to remove as much leaf tissue as possible to let sun rays warm the soil and stimulate new growth. As a result, your lawn will revive a couple of weeks ahead of everybody else in the neighborhood. When is it too late to scalp your yard?
The exact date depends on your geographic location, typical climate, and temperatures.
So, check your local last frost date and wait for it to pass before you scalp your lawn. If no hard freeze is on the horizon, you can scalp after you start seeing green and the temperatures get closer to 60-70F.
When Is It Too Late to Scalp Your Yard?
In the wintertime, cold temperatures on warm-season turf send grass into dormancy. The blades turn brown and barely grow. But as the temperatures go back up in the spring and summer, the lawn booms back to life.
The goal of scalping is to speed that process up as the temperatures start going up. Most homeowners lower the blade on their lawnmowers to the lowest setting and take their lawns down almost to dirt.
Some professional gardeners also say “scalping down to the white meat” to refer to settings as low as 0.7 or 0.5 inches.
Different gardeners use lots of techniques, too. Pre-scalping is one of them. In essence, pre-season scalping means cutting your turf before the last frost date.
And in any case, every mowing should not remove too many inches from the dormant grass. Why? Because the top layer acts as an insulator for the new seeds and seedlings.
Of course, if you scalp your yard too soon, it would be like taking your jacket off in the raging cold temperatures. Your lawn would suffer because you expose the soil to more frost or freezes.
And as a result, new turf will take longer to come up than regular yards.
Scalping is not necessary. And acting too late can even damage your lawn. Cutting too late would be when new growth has already been established. After all, you should always follow the golden rule of lawn care when mowing your lawn.
Scalping In The Southern Part Of The U.S. VS Central And Northern States
People living in the southern part of the U.S. can scalp their lawn as soon as they get into more spring-like temperatures. Because of climate change and related temperature trends, the last freeze occurs before March in most southern states. So, as soon as temperatures rise, they can start scalping.
Homeowners in USDA zones 7 through 9 will benefit from waiting to scalp your yard because removing the top layer also favors weeds. Most weeds germinate sooner than turfgrass. So, while you might not kill your lawn, you may let weeds take over your yard by bagging all the clippings that need to go away to allow sunshine to reach the soil.
In the North, the most common type of turfgrass is cool-season grass. So, scalping is not an option. Tall fescues and similar grasses do not tolerate scalping.
FAQs
Is It Possible To Scalp Your Lawn In Summer?
Generally, it would not be beneficial. But on a Bermudagrass lawn, provided that you already cut it as short as 1.5 inches or less, scalping can be a pre-treatment to plug aeration.
Scalping helps fertilizer break down at a faster rate. So, it can also be a viable method to repair a damaged portion before overseeding.
Should I Scalp My Lawn Before Winter?
You might consider scalping your yard in the fall if you plan to seed cool-season turfgrass. But scalping before winter is not recommendable. As the temperatures drop, there is no reason to remove the dormant coating that protects the seeds and helps them survive frost and freezes.
Unless your turf is in USDA zone 12, do not scalp your lawn before winter.
When Is It Too Late To Scalp Your Yard During The First Year?
There is no early, ideal, late, or wrong scalping date when you have a brand-new lawn. For clarity, you should not scalp any turf until fully established. And that process can take about a year.
So, if you laid a new lawn recently, you should not scalp it until next spring.
Related Article: How Late in the Fall Can You Plant Grass Seed