# How early is too early to mow your lawn? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527 "2016-07-21T21:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/41 "2016-07-22T14:36:29Z")
> [@Lowdown](#): > > If you don’t bag (which I don’t) wet grass will clump up and look unsightly. It’ll clog up your mower easier. It’ll also stick to the underside of your mower deck, which (if you don’t clean it off after) will get all nasty and moldy and dry there and start rusting out your deck earlier. I also think you get a nicer cut when it’s dry, but I’m probably making that up. OK, I see your point. We bag and use the clippings for mulch. The mower deck has a hose attachment so I clean the underside after each use. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/42 "2016-07-22T14:37:53Z")
I was out mowing on Sunday at 9am. The heat index was already 86 and it wasn’t going to get any cooler. I wondered if I was out too early but there were a couple of other people out doing the same. I sure as heck wasn’t going to wait until 10 to start. And I don’t like mowing in the evenings. It seems the mosquitoes are worse then. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/43 "2016-07-22T14:51:34Z")
This might be the most frequently asked homeowner-related question/complaint. Personally, I am an early riser, so 8:45 would be no problem to me. I tend to wait until 9, just to be polite. But if someone works an odd shift, or has unusual sleep/social patterns, they ought to figure out some way to accommodate those, rather than expecting the world to revolve around them. My personal concern is a little different. Seems to me a ton of folk mow in the early evening, when I’m most likely to be enjoying my patio/garden, possibly entertaining guests. But I recognize that I do not get to direct how they schedule their lives. Bottomline - check with your municipality and any homeowner’s association, comply with any requirements by them, and simply ignore the jerk. Your concerns about not mowing in the heat of the day are spot on. Also, re: wet grass, my understanding is that it can tend to tear the grass rather than cutting cleanly, and can clog up the mower as **Lowdown** says. Oh yeah - and stay off that facebook page (or at least avoid posting!) ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/44 "2016-07-22T15:00:20Z")
Anything before 9 on a weekend or before 8 on a weekday, and I’ll probably at least whine to my wife about it, even if I don’t make any real complaints. I’d prefer 10 on weekends to cover the odd day that I actually get to sleep in, but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone that 9-10 range. Honestly, the worst is if I’ve got a weekday off work and there are landscapers out at 7. THAT basically ruins the whole day. ---
**Author:** ![Tannim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Tannim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tannim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/45 "2016-07-22T15:19:41Z")
I really think it depends on where you live. If it’s going to be over 100 by 9AM then starting at 8 is perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/46 "2016-07-22T15:20:40Z")
If someone in your house was sleeping in, would you wait until they woke up to mow? People often work very stressful jobs and have to get up early in the morning. Sleeping in is one of the great pleasures in life. I can’t fault someone for wanting to have the opportunity to sleep in and peacefully wake up. The later you mow, the greater the opportunity your neighbors have to sleep in. But that has to be balanced against your desire not to mow when it’s hot. One thing you might consider is getting an electric mower. They are often much quieter than a typical unmufflered gas mower. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/47 "2016-07-22T15:36:03Z")
My town has a “no mowing before 10AM” restriction for the aforementioned reasons. My neighbors would think nothing of calling Town Hall upon hearing somebody break this, especially during the summer. A year or two ago one of my elderly neighbors was fined for mowing at 7AM. He now waits until after dinner to do most of his yard work. The unwritten rule is if you work off hours, you wait until after dinnertime. Plenty of neighbors, including myself, do this. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/48 "2016-07-22T15:38:57Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > One thing you might consider is getting an electric mower. They are often much quieter than a typical unmufflered gas mower. I’ve always wondered why people use power mowers, they are pretty loud and a push mower generally works just fine (requires more effort when grass is really tall). Seems like the noise to value ratio is high. If you are cutting down a tree a chain saw is loud but speeds up the process by orders of magnitude, but for mowing the lawn I can mow with a push mower at almost the same pace as a power mower, even with large yards. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/49 "2016-07-22T15:42:58Z")
One of many reasons we use a lawn service. They can come in the middle of the week and not kick up a ruckus. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/50 "2016-07-22T15:44:11Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > I’ve always wondered why people use power mowers, they are pretty loud and a push mower generally works just fine (requires more effort when grass is really tall). > > Seems like the noise to value ratio is high. If you are cutting down a tree a chain saw is loud but speeds up the process by orders of magnitude, but for mowing the lawn I can mow with a push mower at almost the same pace as a power mower, even with large yards. I remember, when I was around 10 or 11, I spent part of the summer with my bio-dad, and one of my chores was to cut the grass. He had a push mower at the time; I’ll just say that I’d never used one before, and I haven’t used one since… at least 75 percent of that time, it’s been by choice. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/51 "2016-07-22T15:53:30Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > _\_ I can’t fault someone for wanting to have the opportunity to sleep in and peacefully wake up. But what’s the definition of sleeping in? I get up at 5AM for work, so 7AM is sleeping in for me. When my sister works the evening shift at the bar, her sleeping in goes till noon. And because I get up so early, I tend to go to bed early, even on weekends. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t give me a valid argument if my neighbors are having a party in their yard that goes after dark. So who gets to set the limits? Maybe we need to segregate people in neighborhoods according to whether they’re morning or night people? Or maybe we need to recognize that from either side, the world doesn’t revolve around our preferences and maybe talk to our neighbors and work something out? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/52 "2016-07-22T15:58:27Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > If someone in your house was sleeping in, would you wait until they woke up to mow? Nope. My daughter is currently living with us. She is in the middle of moving from Roanoke to Pittsburgh and hasn’t found an apartment yet. I’ve rearranged pretty much everything to help her enjoy her stay. But the grass gets cut at 9 am on Saturdays, unless it is raining. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/53 "2016-07-22T16:02:25Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > But what’s the definition of sleeping in? I get up at 5AM for work, so 7AM is sleeping in for me. When my sister works the evening shift at the bar, her sleeping in goes till noon. It’s true that not everyone has the same schedules. But the vast majority of people work first shift and being able to sleep until 8 or 9 would be considered sleeping in. So waiting until 9 or 10 would likely give the vast majority of neighbors the opportunity to sleep in. There’s not a time that works for everyone, but there are times that work for the greatest number of neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/54 "2016-07-22T16:02:46Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > My subdivision has a facebook page. I was recently called out on it for having the audacity to mow my grass at 8:45 on a Saturday morning. I admit I am an early riser, but I feel anything after 8 is a fine time to mow before the heat of the day made being outside unpleasant. My neighbor insists the acceptable hours are 10AM to 8PM for making noise in a residential neighborhood on the weekend. But around here it is already 90 degrees by 10:00 during the summer. > > So my fellow dopers, what time on a Saturday would you consider acceptable to make loud noise outside in a residential setting? 8:45 is a perfectly reasonable time to mow the lawn. Hell, if there’s a heat advisory (as there is here), it’s probably too late in the day. My nephew and cousin came over to mow mine this morning at 6iss; tehy were not the only people moqing at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/55 "2016-07-22T16:29:23Z")
The answer to this question depends on how much you like/hate your neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/56 "2016-07-22T16:37:00Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > My town has a “no mowing before 10AM” restriction for the aforementioned reasons. > > My neighbors would think nothing of calling Town Hall upon hearing somebody break this, especially during the summer. A year or two ago one of my elderly neighbors was fined for mowing at 7AM. He now waits until after dinner to do most of his yard work. > > The unwritten rule is if you work off hours, you wait until after dinnertime. Plenty of neighbors, including myself, do this. Where are you? I can see that making sense in Canada or something, but in a lot of the country it’s over 90 by ten–and the temperature is rising rapidly. Furthermore, this time of year it doesn’t really cool down until well after 8. Today, it’s supposed to be 90 at 9:00. > [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > The answer to this question depends on how much you like/hate your neighbors. No, I really think it comes down to how fucking hot it is. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/57 "2016-07-22T16:51:43Z")
Where I live it is currently 33 degrees Celsius! ( that’s 92 degrees F) And incredibly humid. Been this hot for a week, and will be for another week to come. So tell me again how hot it is in Texas and why that makes it okay to wake up your neighbours on a weekend morning. Sorry, but how hot it is doesn’t excuse disturbing your neighbours sleep, where I live. And shouldn’t wherever you live, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/58 "2016-07-22T16:55:06Z")
If you have some unusual sleeping needs/preferences, then by all means, directly ask your neighbors if they’d be willing to accommodate you. Or you could investigate insulation, shutters, ear plugs, white noise, etc. Hell, I wake at 6 a.m. every day. Can’ t remember the last time I slept past 7:30. My opinions re: my neighbors’ use of power mowers, leafblowers, barking dogs, loud music, etc. are independent of my sleep preferences. I also tend to go to bed early. I’m regularly surprised when neighbors have company speaking loudly and laughing in their backyards after 9-10 p.m. - including weeknights. But, I assume they don’t know how well their voices travel, and I’ve long ago acknowledged that more people prefer windows closed and AC on than I do. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/59 "2016-07-22T16:56:25Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > The answer to this question depends on how much you like/hate your neighbors. We have two neighbors on our private drive. At 9 am every Saturday we are all out mowing. If one of the neighbors is mowing at 7, we know they have some sort of plans for the day and typically they stop by some time with a beer and a “sorry”. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527/60 "2016-07-22T17:01:03Z")
See, 33 is really different than 37-40. 33 is what we get at 9:00 in the morning when it’s finally cool enough to mow–and that’s when it’s normal summer hot, not crazy heat wave hot. Different places have different standards. Here, the social consensus is that everyone would rather be able to mow in the (relative) cool than be able to sleep in perfect silence until ten. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-early-is-too-early-to-mow-your-lawn/760527.md?page=4)