Skip to content
Grow In Backyard
Lawn Care

How to Cut Tall Grass Without a Mower, in Stages

Knee-high grass takes two or three passes with a trimmer, scythe or brush cutter, clearing the cuttings between each. The order that works.

By Zakaria 3 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
An old hand sickle with a wooden handle lying on weathered boards
Photo: makamuki0, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
On this page

Tall grass comes down in stages, with the cuttings cleared between each one. Attempting ground level in a single pass kills the lawn and clogs the machine.

The sequence

  1. Walk the area. Remove rocks, wire, bottles, posts; note stumps and hidden obstacles
  2. Check for wildlife and plan to work from the middle outward
  3. First pass: take the top third with a trimmer, brush cutter or scythe
  4. Rake the cuttings off and deal with them
  5. Wait three to five days
  6. Second pass: another third
  7. Rake off again
  8. Third pass or mower, once the grass is at roughly double the mower’s highest setting
  9. Step the mowing height down over two or three cuts across the following fortnight

Choosing the tool

toolhandlesnotes
String trimmer, heavy lineGrass to knee heightCheap, no skill, slow and uneven
Brush cutter with bladeTall grass, brambles, saplingsFastest on rough ground; kickback risk
Austrian scytheLarge areas of long grassQuiet, clean cut, real learning curve
SicklePatches and awkward cornersHand work only
Mower on highest settingGrass under ~double that heightNot before then

Long grass is full of animals and hardware

Hedgehogs, toads, slow-worms and ground-nesting birds all shelter in it, and a blade is lethal to them. Hidden rocks, wire and glass destroy strings and blades and fly a long way. Walk it, work outward from the middle, and cut in late summer or autumn where you can.

What to do with the cuttings

  • Compost in thin layers, alternated with brown material — a thick pile goes anaerobic in days
  • Spread thinly as mulch elsewhere, no more than an inch
  • Leave windrows to dry for a day, then move them, which halves the weight
  • Bag it if there is simply too much
  • Never leave a thick mat on the area you just cut

Recovering the lawn afterwards

  • Rake out dead thatch once it has dried
  • Expect pale weak blades for a few weeks — that grass has been shaded by its own growth
  • Overseed bare patches in early autumn
  • Feed lightly, once it is actively growing again
  • Water deeply rather than often
  • Keep the mowing height high for the rest of the season

Common questions

How do you cut very tall grass without a mower?

In two or three stages, taking roughly the top third each time and clearing the cuttings before the next pass. A string trimmer with heavy line handles grass up to about knee height, a brush cutter with a metal blade takes anything taller or tougher, and a scythe cuts large areas of long grass faster than either once the technique is learned. Trying to reach ground level in one pass bogs down whatever machine you are using and buries the lawn underneath.

Why clear the cuttings between passes?

Because a thick mat of wet cuttings smothers and kills whatever is underneath, which is usually the grass you are trying to recover. It also hides the next cut from you and clogs the machine on the following pass. Rake each cut off, and either compost it in thin layers, spread it thinly elsewhere as mulch, or bag it — a pile of fresh grass cuttings left in place goes anaerobic within days and smells accordingly.

Is a scythe better than a brush cutter for long grass?

For large areas of long grass, often yes. A sharp Austrian-style scythe cuts cleanly rather than shredding, makes almost no noise, needs no fuel and leaves the cut grass in neat windrows that are easy to rake. The costs are a real learning curve, honing every few minutes of mowing, and periodic peening of the blade. A brush cutter is faster to pick up and better on woody growth, brambles and uneven ground with hidden obstacles.

What should I check before cutting an overgrown area?

Walk it first for rocks, wire, bottles, stumps, old fence posts and buried debris, all of which wreck strings and blades and become projectiles. Then look for wildlife: long grass shelters hedgehogs, toads, slow-worms, ground-nesting birds and their young, and a brush cutter blade is lethal to all of them. Work from the middle outward so animals can escape to the edges, and leave a rough margin if you can — a cut in late summer or early autumn avoids most nesting.

Can I just use a mower on the highest setting?

Only once the grass is down to roughly double the highest cutting height. A rotary mower in knee-high grass stalls, clogs, scalps and in a wet mass can be genuinely unsafe. The sequence that works is a trimmer or scythe to bring everything down to six or eight inches, raking off, then the mower on its highest setting, then two or three cuts over the following fortnight stepping the height down. Removing more than a third of blade height per cut shocks the grass.

How do I recover a lawn after cutting back overgrown grass?

Cut in stages, rake out the dead thatch, then feed, overseed and water. Expect the lawn to look poor for a few weeks — grass that has been shaded by its own growth has pale weak blades and will not green up instantly. Overseed any bare patches in early autumn, water deeply rather than frequently, and raise the mowing height for the rest of the season. One severe scalping sets recovery back by a whole season.

Backyard Weekly

Know what to plant, week by week

Join the weekly email for seasonal jobs, fixes for what is going wrong, and gear worth buying.

Not ready to subscribe? The planting calendar is free and needs no email.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. Grow In Backyard will never sell your address.

Keep reading