Regardless of how you feel about lawn-mowing, if you’re stuck maintaining a lawn, you’re probably open to any suggestions for reducing the amount of work it takes to keep it in tip-top (or even mediocre) shape. In your quest to cut down on the time you spend on lawn care, you may have come across a viral TikTok video demonstrating a technique for filling in gaps in a patchy lawn — one that experts have warned can be dangerous. The aim of the hack is to cover up bald patches in a lawn resulting from higher-than-normal temperatures. TikTok user Oliver Joseph posted a video he calls “The Hair Transplant,” which involves removing the grass catcher from a lawnmower and propping open the rear cover so that the cuttings are redistributed across the lawn. According to Joseph, the clippings also enhance growth in the bald patches. While the hack does what it says it will do, it also leaves the person mowing the lawn open to injury. That’s because when you leave the back of a lawnmower open, in addition to the cut grass, other objects in your path — rocks, in particular — could make their way through the mower and out the back, flying towards you at top speed. These projectiles could injure you or any animal in their path, especially if you’re hit in the face or eyes. In other words, this hack just isn’t worth the risk to you, to others, or to your pet.
