Regular mowing will make your lawn in Oklahoma look manicured, but it should be done right to prevent damage, like ruts. Common lawn mowing mistakes that could lead to ruts in your soil include mowing it when wet, as the ground is soft and can easily be compacted. Using the same mowing pattern repeatedly and not switching it up can also cause ruts because the lawn mower will go through the same areas over and over again. Fortunately, ruts can be solved. Aerating and overseeding your lawn will help restore its lush and even appearance, but you can also fill in the low spots with soil!

Mowing your lawn when wet can lead to ruts.

Ruts can form if you mow your lawn when it is still wet. Wet soil is soft, and you want to avoid running your lawn mower across it. The weight of the lawn mower will sink into the soil and press down the ground, causing soil compaction in the areas where the mower ran through. The mower will damage the structure of the soil and cause grooves or ruts on your lawn.

Compacting the soil and creating ruts because you mowed your lawn when wet is harmful to both its health and appearance. The shallow tracks on your lawn are areas where the soil is most compacted, which means the roots of your grass are having trouble absorbing nutrients. Your lawn will also look unkempt when it has ruts, giving your yard a messy and poorly maintained appearance.

Ruts can be the result of not switching up your mowing pattern.

Lawn in Tulsa, OK, with mowing pattern on a house.

When mowing your lawn, the route that you follow across your turf will create eye-catching patterns but should be alternated regularly to keep ruts from forming. When you don't switch up your mowing pattern, your lawn mower will go through the same areas repeatedly. The weight of the mower will be concentrated in the same route, allowing for the development of ruts on your lawn. The area where the lawn mower runs through will become worn down and the ruts will become more visible.

The grass blades will also start to lean in one direction when you keep using the same mowing pattern, making your lawn look unsightly. To avoid this, make sure you rotate your mowing patterns regularly. This will alter the areas where your mower runs over so its weight gets distributed, preventing ruts from forming.

How do you fix ruts in your soil?

If your lawn has ruts, you'll be glad to know they can be fixed. Because ruts are low areas on your lawn where the soil is compacted, aeration and overseeding are good ways to address them. Aerating the soil will loosen up the compacted soil and help address damaged soil structure. Meanwhile, overseeding will promote new growth to fill in the ruts and make your lawn look more even. Another way to fix ruts is to fill in the low spots on your lawn with soil to level out your turf.

Make sure you hire professionals to mow your lawn so you never have to deal with ruts!

Call us today to enroll in our lawn mowing service!

Ruts are unsightly low spots on your lawn due to poor mowing practices. To ensure your lawn is given a trim the proper way, let us do it. Our team at LBR offers our lawn mowing service to commercial and residential properties, as well as HOAs, in Tulsa, OK, and surrounding areas like Owasso and Broken Arrow. When you sign up for this service, our crew will visit your property every week during the growing season to mow your lawn. During every visit, we'll make sure to rotate the mowing pattern and handle other tasks like string-trimming, edging, and blowing grass clippings off hard surfaces. Give us a call today at (918) 252-5296 to enroll in our lawn mowing service.