Am I asking to much of my mower?

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Unfortunately, many people put a great deal of effort into making their lawn healthy, thick and plush, then cut it like it's a chore (necessary evil) once a week. If you work to make your lawn healthy, you should cut it to keep it healthy. Quit scalping it.

My neighbor used to cut his grass two or three times a week because he put forth so much effort to keep it healthy. My grass is lucky it gets to catch an occassional watering courtesy of Mother Nature.
 
In my experience, based on that picture, that's WAAAY too much (too tall) for any mower to mulch reliably and consistently in one pass. If you keep it long, you need to mow high. That's all I do with the closely-cropped weeds I call a lawn. It still manages to look good!

Joel
 
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Couple of things:

For this mowing the deck should be raised higher or if you want to maintain the grass at this length, you should mow more often. Not fun, but that's what we have to do at times - every 4 days or so in the right weather.

Is the engine running correctly? Something wrong with the settings? Has it been checked out?

When was the blade last sharpened? Sharpen its been over a year.

Was the Murray a mulcher or side discharge? The mulchers take a lot more oomph. I had a bad Craftsman Mulcher - did the same thing yours is. I had not heard of problems like this with the honda. I just bought a Toro SR4 Mulcher with personal pace, and I'm sold!

Being in CO (I went to college there and have family there too), that's likely still Kentucky Bluegrass. Everything is irrigated or grass won't grow in most places out there (well, not what most people think of for a lawn anyways...) The grass does look like it may be slightly wet - overnight condensation or evening condensation or wet from lawn watering - may need to mow on the 2nd day after irrigating. Knowing the lack of humidity most of the time, my bet is on the latter...
 
You are bring the heights down too fast. You need to realize you can cut all the green stuff off on the leaf blade...chlorophyll leaf needs it. Scalping leaves no green stuff on the grass blades will kill the grass.

I wouldn't fault too much on the mower as any mower can handle so much grass clippings it will bog down and strain the motor...straining the mower will result in pulling the grass rather than cutting it. Sharper blades will also minimize scalping when bogged down but even on extreme conditions it will occur.

You need to also realize when lower the heights on your lawn if it's thatched out it will scalp...the blades will pull the grass because the lawn mass is too thick but again depending on the type of mower you have and type of grass. A good fertilizer program is also a good idea. High nitrogen intake will cause excessive strong growth...best to throw some manure out there cheaper cost and a lot better for the soil..it's a slow release fertilizer.

I see more of a problem with grass that grows yearly such as here with ideal temp conditions BUT when grass slows during the winter it thins out so I really don't see any problems with thick thatching up north the seasons will do it's trick. Winter season has it's role. Maybe the wacky weather stuff going on unusual growth?
 
Hello everyone,
Ok, I sharpened the blades about 6 mows ago and they were very sharp. Now they are already super dull already so I'll resharpen them. With that said this mower has always struggled with the lawn. The mower is set on heigth 3 or 4 of 6 so it's pretty much a little lower then the middle setting so I'll raise it up a couple.

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
If you are mulching, use a mulching blade like a gator blade or mambo blade, it will make much better clippings than a regular blade.

Like others have said, not so short....good luck!
 
"yes" to the points mentioned above:

the honda doesn't have the torque
you are cutting off too much grass all at once - you need to mow more often
perhaps you should discharge instead of mulch

I had the same beautiful grass on my old house. very soft, very thick, thirsty.

when it comes to mowers and thick grass, there is no substitue for cubic inches. (torque)
 
That lawn is scalped. Waiting way too long between cuts. There's too much material for the deck to mulch and the turf will also experience a high degree of stress.
 
1. Mulching sucks in northern tall fescue grass. We side discharge all 80 of our customers lawns. Granted we have large commercial mowers
2. That grass is to deep to be mulching and expecting a nice clean cut. Is that 1 weeks worth of growth?
3. That grass looks damp. Was this cut early in the morning? Possible dew?
4. Looks like you are trying to cut to short
5. That looks like a bagging mower. Does it have a "mulch kit" installed on it or are you just running it with out the bag on it? Many mowers wont cut worth a poop if they are not designed to mulch. Your lawn looks small and your best bet would probably be to go ahead and bag that lawn.
 
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That grass looks very long and thick - not suprised you are having problems, you're cutting it way to low.

I'd move the deck up at least a notch, and increase your mowing frequency. I used to mow grass as a summer job, and if I even saw grass that thick and lush, I knew I'd have problems.
 
Also you may be able to play with the govenor to get more revs, does anyone know what rpm a 20" or 21" blade is safe too?

On my 2T lawnboy I can push the throttle up slightly into the choke range for a bit more rpm and richer mixture for cutting an area of heavy grass. If I don't hold it there eventually it slides down to just normal full throttle but its handy as sort of a NOS button.
 
Cut the grass as it needs it.

My 40-yr experience is with Bermuda & St. Augustine, and, depending on rain/fertilizer/temperatures/irrigation I expect to cut twice weekly when all is good. Sometimes every three days. Different direction each time, etc. And, it's over 15,000 sq/ft. Compared to when I bought the house three years ago it's night and day.

Several spare blades, all sharpened/balanced. Gas with FP60 (max 6-weeks age), oil with LC20.

Last year I had a friend who runs a small engine service company re-engine an '89 Snapper for me and I love it. "Mulch" from April 1 to November 1, and bag otherwise (yes, every week down here, minimum).

The men and boys difference is proper use of knowledge (books, good forums such as www.lawnsite.com) and willingness to change. Your lawn grass is different, so do some homework, set some standards, and study your lawn.

Experiment with blades. GATOR blades were good on the one cheap mower I had (that lasted ten years).

Also, I believe HONDA (among others) got slapped recently about HP ratings. And, there is a difference between the ones you buy at a dealer and those from box stores (need to check this).

$500 isn't expensive. I have more into that in mine (with several blade types, bags, inserts, wheel changes, etc). But, seeing as how this is my third mower since 1976 . . . it's cheap.

A soil test will help you zero in proper supplements and timing. www.gardenweb.com for your area is a start (as is ag extension office).
 
That is correct cutting 45 degree different angles when cutting grass. Cross two lines up and down like a t. Now draw a line in between the t on each side. You now have 8 lines. Follow the the direction of the different angles in rotation on each cut. Reason grass such as Bermuda tend to follow the sun(leaf blade). By practicing this method lawn becomes easier to cut and also the slower the mower travels will have a better cut.

Your lawn will benefit from the different cuts resulting in stronger even grass growth.
 
I had a neighbor back in the early 80s that kept his yard sprayed for weeds and the Bermuda grass looked like thick carpet. He always mowed it with his mower set high.

Well, one time his mower quit so he borrowed a mower and realized that it was set lower than his after mowing the strip of grass between the sidewalk and curb.

He then complained about how the grass was dying where it was cut short and indeed, it turned brown.

BUT....a few days later after watering his yard, that low cut section came back "greener" than the rest of the yard.

I had read that you should mow lower every so often so that sunlight can get to the lower parts of the grass blades.
 
Say you have a bush tree. As it gets older such as a hibiscus the branches ages. Now if you trim the branches NEW stems will grow. YOU need to trim the branches as it ages or the hibiscus tree will become weak because the branches are old.

Give new life to grass is the same. Thinning it out like verticutting, or aeration. New stems grows like fresh seeded grass.
 
Im willing to bet your trying to cut off to much and one time. Raise thos wheels brother!, Sharpen that blade while your at it
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By the pictures it looks as if your cutting to low, and the grass is really moist. Any residential mower will struggle giving thos circumstances
 
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