Tifway Mowing - does it get better?

13 years ago

Hi all, i've gotten lots of great help so far on this forum. I sodded my half acre with tifway on 7/31. So far, most of the yard is established and i've been following the bermuda bible. The only thing is, the mowing.

I've been mowing frequently (I have a JD rotary mower), about every 3-4 days. Trying not to take off more than 1/3 of the blade. I've been progressively lowering the mowing height, and its been progressively looking worse after I mow. Right before I mow, the yard looks really great (solid dark green in most spots), and when i'm done...its full of streaks and little half circles where the mower cut too much off. And thats only at about 1 1/2 inch.

My yard is fairly rough, and I just don't know when i'll have time to level out the entire yard with sand....that would take an eternity, but it may come to that. So, i've been experimenting with what height looks okay...and I guess its closer to 2 inches. Obviously, as bumpy as my lawn is...mowing it on 2 inches, some of the yard is probably cut down to 3/4 inch or so.

Another problem is I have several slopes, and mowing it low makes the low side of the mower cut lower and creates an uneven cut. I know these are just drawbacks to a rotary mower, but...i'm not crazy enough about my yard to mow a half acre every other day with a reel mower.

Should I stick with it, and keep it at 1 1/2 for a while until it looks better after I mow? How much am I hurting myself to keep it at 2 inches? It just kills me to mow now, because it looks horrible when i'm done. Thanks again for the help.

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Comments (5)

texas_weed
13 years ago
Raise it until you can get a handle on the grade issue. Just try not to go over 2 inches.
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
It will never look better until you get the profile perfect. At this time of year, unless you live in Miami or Brownsville, it is too late to fix that. So between now and next July, search this forum for discussions about "leveling" "bermuda" with "sand." Key search terms there in quotes. You can do it all in one day and have excellent results literally overnight. Of course you'll be exhausted the next day and won't be able to get out of bed, but your wife will see the difference. You can have a putting green surface if you do it right. Note that a putting green is not necessarily perfectly horizontal with the Earth. If you want to 'profile' your yard, that can be done, too. Most homeowners are happy with flat, though. Again, you have until July to read about it. Bermuda needs to be growing well for this to work. If not you could smother it. Yes, believe it or not, you can smother bermuda.
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gsledge
13 years ago
raise the lawn mower height all the way up as that should cut at 3 to 3 1/2 inches and never cut more than 1/3 of the blade off. When grass is mowed too short it allows the sun to heat up the ground and roots dont like that. follow these directions for a month or so next yr and youll never go short again.
texas_weed
13 years ago
gsledge, you are aware we are talking about Bermuda grass right?
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
gsledge must not realize what bermuda is. Golf greens in the south are bermuda and are mowed at 5/32 high.

Tifway Mowing - does it get better?

Comments (5)

texas_weed

dchall_san_antonio

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