What a difference my greens mower makes

3092 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by fp_911, Nov 2, 2017

fp_911

Discussion Starter · Oct 29, 2017

I've been really busy lately and my lawn has pretty much stopped growing in this cooler weather. But while I was out today doing something else I saw an opportunity to photograph the difference a reel mower makes in a Bermuda lawn.

What I did this past season was use my Toro Greensmaster 1000 on only the front lawn and then my Honda HRX rotary on the side and back lawns. I did this because we're still working on fixing up the back yard and it will be a while before I have all of the debris and leveling done.

So in this photo you can clearly see the line where I stop using the GM1000. Funny thing is the lawn on the foreground undergoes the same weed treatment, fertilizer, and mowing schedule. The only difference is that I use two different mowers for them. Then of course on the left side is my neighbor's yard which you can also see if maintained with a rotary mower as well.

Wow, what a difference huh?

This is the first season with the reel mower so I look forward to perfecting things even more so. But for now I still get comments on this lawn even though I sure get a lot of strange looks when mowing with this monster of a machine!

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Mightyquinn

· #2 · Oct 29, 2017

Looks great. Having a lower HOC allows more sun to get to the soil allowing higher soil temps which will prolong the growing season!!!

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Redtenchu

· #3 · Oct 29, 2017

Looks great fp911!

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Colonel K0rn

· #4 · Oct 29, 2017

Looks great! How do you handle mowing around the telephone cylinder? I've got a few obstacles in my yard, and while having the transport axles removed does allow me to go a bit closer to objects, I'm still learning how to maneuver even at slow speeds.

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wardconnor

· #5 · Oct 30, 2017

Wow. What a difference.

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fp_911

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 30, 2017

Mightyquinn said:
Looks great. Having a lower HOC allows more sun to get to the soil allowing higher soil temps which will prolong the growing season!!!

I hope it doesn't have the opposite effect though too, since there's less ground cover I hope it doesn't freeze more quickly. We had a freeze warning this morning but it doesn't appear that my grass got that cold yet. So hopefully it can remain green for a little while longer.

Redtenchu said:
Looks great fp911!

Thanks! It's a little longer than usual because I stopped mowing about three weeks ago but still stands out in the neighborhood.

Colonel K0rn said:
Looks great! How do you handle mowing around the telephone cylinder? I've got a few obstacles in my yard, and while having the transport axles removed does allow me to go a bit closer to objects, I'm still learning how to maneuver even at slow speeds.

It is a little frustrating especially on the other side where I have a concrete border for a tree and also a pad with a big electrical transformer. What I do there and around the cable junction is use the weed eater. It's a lot more imprecise as sometimes I scalp the lawn when trying to do it. But yes navigating this beast on a home lawn is sometimes difficult.

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J_nick

· #7 · Oct 31, 2017

Mightyquinn said:
Looks great. Having a lower HOC allows more sun to get to the soil allowing higher soil temps which will prolong the growing season!!!

I've always thought the lower reel cut keeps the grass denser and acts more of a blanket. That layer of insulation allowing the ground to stay warmer during cold temperatures.

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Redtenchu

· #8 · Oct 31, 2017

I like to compare it like this: a knitted blanket (3inch Bermuda) to a space blanket (sub 0.5 bermuda). The knitted blanket looks warmer, but in reality, the space blanket is much warmer.

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Mightyquinn

· #9 · Oct 31, 2017

J_nick said:
Mightyquinn said:

Looks great. Having a lower HOC allows more sun to get to the soil allowing higher soil temps which will prolong the growing season!!!

Click to expand...

I've always thought the lower reel cut keeps the grass denser and acts more of a blanket. That layer of insulation allowing the ground to stay warmer during cold temperatures.

I think it's a combination of the two. Taller bermuda will shade the soil more during the day and let more heat escape at night. While the shorter bermuda is closer to the soil allowing more heat(sun) get closer to the soil while trapping the heat in during the night.

Of course this is all just speculation on my part and using a little deductive reasoning

Redtenchu said:
I like to compare it like this: a knitted blanket (3inch Bermuda) to a space blanket (sub 0.5 bermuda). The knitted blanket looks warmer, but in reality, the space blanket is much warmer.

Good analogy!!! :thumbup:

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SwardmanGuy

· #10 · Oct 31, 2017

The difference is almost unbelievable...even more if the treatment is the same! Wow! So now start to use reel mower everywhere!!!

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Still learnin

· #11 · Oct 31, 2017

That's an amazing difference. Yard looks great. Envious!

I was wanting to switch to Bermuda in the summer, but I don't know now! I only have a rotary mower and with 36k sq/ft that I try to maintain well and another 40k that I just mow, I don't see a reel or greens mower in my future. I had just planned to cut the Bermuda at 1.5-2.5 inches. Will it look terrible with a rotary?

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Colonel K0rn

· #12 · Oct 31, 2017

Still learnin said:
That's an amazing difference. Yard looks great. Envious!

I was wanting to switch to Bermuda in the summer, but I don't know now! I only have a rotary mower and with 36k sq/ft that I try to maintain well and another 40k that I just mow, I don't see a reel or greens mower in my future. I had just planned to cut the Bermuda at 1.5-2.5 inches. Will it look terrible with a rotary?

No, there's plenty of people who keep their bermuda looking just fine with rotary mowers at heights you plan to cut. If you have a lot of space, you could look into getting a gang reel setup.

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fp_911

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 2, 2017

Still learnin said:
That's an amazing difference. Yard looks great. Envious!

I was wanting to switch to Bermuda in the summer, but I don't know now! I only have a rotary mower and with 36k sq/ft that I try to maintain well and another 40k that I just mow, I don't see a reel or greens mower in my future. I had just planned to cut the Bermuda at 1.5-2.5 inches. Will it look terrible with a rotary?

I used a rotary last year and it still looked decent but it would scalp in certain places. Here is a photo from May of last year.

You can see it still looks nice but it's not quite what it is now. I think the main reason for the difference now is just that since we're late in the growing season the rotary grass isn't really growing so it looks brown now. During the growing season the difference wasn't as clear.

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