TL;DR
Scalping is mowing turf so short that the blades cut into the stems and crowns, exposing brown thatch and bare soil. It usually happens when wheels drop into low spots, the deck is set below the grass type's tolerance, or too much height is removed at once, and the weakened turf invites weeds and disease.
What it means
Scalping is mowing turf so short that the blades cut into the stems and crowns, exposing brown thatch and bare soil. It usually happens when wheels drop into low spots, the deck is set below the grass type's tolerance, or too much height is removed at once, and the weakened turf invites weeds and disease. The exception is an intentional early-spring scalp on warm-season grasses like bermuda to clear dormant top growth before green-up.
Where it sits in the glossary
Scalping is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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