# Does your reel mower fully cut Bermuda seedheads?



## fp_911 (Apr 10, 2017)

Hi everyone,

I can only mow once per week but this past week the Bermuda seedheads started to appear. I mowed but unfortunately it seems like some of the simply laid down and did not get cut at all.

Is this an expected issue with a reel mower or does I just need to sharpen/adjust my blades?

Thanks!


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## dtillman5 (Jul 20, 2017)

I'm having the same issue


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## Keepin It Reel (Feb 20, 2019)

Same here and nothing you can do but wait a few weeks and they go away naturally or a pgr.


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## thesouthernreelmower (Aug 28, 2018)

Reels tend to just roll over them. If you double cut in different directions it seems to help some. Really pgr helps the most to suppress them.


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

Hah! I thought I was doing something wrong. My reel ignores about 10% of seedheads. But I'm mowing around 3/4" HOC which is likely a lot taller than you more experienced folks.

I'm more dissapointed my reel ignores so many dead stolons left behind from the Spring scalping and verti-cut. It causes a tan "haze" over otherwise green bermuda. I suspect it's due to low spots in my lawn. Then again, I played the local Robert Trent Jones golf course yesterday afternoon (96° F what was I thinking?!) and noticed the absolutely gorgeous fairways had the same dead stolons sprigs left behind. So I don't feel so bad.

Even at 1" HOC, my reel has yet to slice a single blade of nutsedge. It's like reel mower kryptonite. I can't decide if that's a "bug" or a "feature" though. It makes it easy to see the nutsedge and spot treat it! Until I practice more with my sprayer and gain enough confidence to throw down Celcius, I'm painting the nutsedge blades by hand with RU every few weeks. Does a great job! Just a few patches of nutsedge left to eradicate (with extreme prejudice).


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## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

hsvtoolfool said:


> Hah! I thought I was doing something wrong. My reel ignores about 10% of seedheads. But I'm mowing around 3/4" HOC which is likely a lot taller than you more experienced folks.
> 
> I'm more dissapointed my reel ignores so many dead stolons left behind from the Spring scalping and verti-cut. It causes a tan "haze" over otherwise green bermuda. I suspect it's due to low spots in my lawn. Then again, I played the local Robert Trent Jones golf course yesterday afternoon (96° F what was I thinking?!) and noticed the absolutely gorgeous fairways had the same dead stolons sprigs left behind. So I don't feel so bad.
> 
> Even at 1" HOC, my reel has yet to slice a single blade of nutsedge. It's like reel mower kryptonite. I can't decide if that's a "bug" or a "feature" though. It makes it easy to see the nutsedge and spot treat it! Until I practice more with my sprayer and gain enough confidence to throw down Celcius, I'm painting the nutsedge blades by hand with RU every few weeks. Does a great job! Just a few patches of nutsedge left to eradicate (with extreme prejudice).


Celsius is pretty easy. I've used it with great success this year already! It will locally yellow at the spot application rate but on a broadcast, it's mild and not really noticeable. You'd really have to mess up to come out with a net negative application of Celsius.


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## Cory (Aug 23, 2017)

If you're only mowing once a week they are getting to tall for the reel. You should probably be cutting at twice a week if it's leaving stragglers. If you can't mow twice a week then run over it with a rotary mower before reel mowing


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

hsvtoolfool said:


> Hah! I thought I was doing something wrong. My reel ignores about 10% of seedheads. But I'm mowing around 3/4" HOC which is likely a lot taller than you more experienced folks.
> 
> I'm more dissapointed my reel ignores so many dead stolons left behind from the Spring scalping and verti-cut. It causes a tan "haze" over otherwise green bermuda. I suspect it's due to low spots in my lawn. Then again, I played the local Robert Trent Jones golf course yesterday afternoon (96° F what was I thinking?!) and noticed the absolutely gorgeous fairways had the same dead stolons sprigs left behind. So I don't feel so bad.
> 
> Even at 1" HOC, my reel has yet to slice a single blade of nutsedge. It's like reel mower kryptonite. I can't decide if that's a "bug" or a "feature" though. It makes it easy to see the nutsedge and spot treat it! Until I practice more with my sprayer and gain enough confidence to throw down Celcius, I'm painting the nutsedge blades by hand with RU every few weeks. Does a great job! Just a few patches of nutsedge left to eradicate (with extreme prejudice).


Celsius doesn't do much for sedges. It does a great job on grassy weeds but for sedges you need something else. The Bermuda Bible recommends certainty. Others will recommend sedgehammer. Do your research on whatever you are going to spray to make sure it kills what you have.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

I have to go over them with the rotary scissors. But sometimes when I use the 6 blade it cuts them but misses a few here and there.


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## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

I've had good luck with the TruCut C27. I've got plenty of seed heads right now, but it's taking them all down as far as I could tell - but as mentioned previously.. in future, just try to not let it go long enough for the seed heads to pop again. Hard to do sometimes though.


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## fp_911 (Apr 10, 2017)

Thanks everyone! I was surprised because the mower was doing a great job the week before and then this week really left a lot to be desired.

I travel often for work so once a week is all I can do at times. This week I'm home so I'll go out there and try again soon. I like the rotary idea first because it looks really bad now. Then I can finish it off with the reel mower and get it looking nice again.

Also I have some PGR but it's been so hot lately I didn't want to stress the grass any more than it already is. Once things get back to normal I'll go ahead and apply.


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## smurg (May 30, 2018)

fp_911 said:


> Thanks everyone! I was surprised because the mower was doing a great job the week before and then this week really left a lot to be desired.
> 
> I travel often for work so once a week is all I can do at times. This week I'm home so I'll go out there and try again soon. I like the rotary idea first because it looks really bad now. Then I can finish it off with the reel mower and get it looking nice again.
> 
> Also I have some PGR but it's been so hot lately I didn't want to stress the grass any more than it already is. Once things get back to normal I'll go ahead and apply.


I'd just apply the PGR now. It will get hotter going into summer and PGR works all the same (just shorter duration).


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

TN Hawkeye said:


> Celsius doesn't do much for sedges.


Sorry! I didn't mean to imply Celcius was for sedges. My post was a stream-of-thought jumbled mess.

I meant to say that I've decided to blanket apply Celcius as my first spray to take out the bajillion various weeds in my lawn. Once I feel comfy with Celcius and gain confidence with my sprayer, then I'll buy Certainty and experiment with that one. Until then, I can hand paint the nutsedge since it only takes about 10 minutes (and it's easy to see). I've also got a nearly full bottle of "Image". I might mix up some for spot treatments. I recall that "Image" did a decent job on my nutsedge a few years back.


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

Reel mowers tend to do poor job on Bermuda seed heads. It seems they bend over and get stripped cause a whitish haze to the lawn. I had seed heads pretty bad last couple years the I would go over with a rotary then come back with the reel. PGR didn't really suppress them in my case for whatever reason. This year I don't have any seed heads and am thinking its a cyclical thing with Bermuda grass.


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## Wfrobinette (Feb 3, 2019)

Same issue and wife was pointing out all the spots I missed.


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## fp_911 (Apr 10, 2017)

MrMeaner said:


> Reel mowers tend to do poor job on Bermuda seed heads. It seems they bend over and get stripped cause a whitish haze to the lawn. I had seed heads pretty bad last couple years the I would go over with a rotary then come back with the reel. PGR didn't really suppress them in my case for whatever reason. This year I don't have any seed heads and am thinking its a cyclical thing with Bermuda grass.


You might be right as I don't ever remember it being this bad. the lawn looks awful now after looking so great just a couple of weeks ago.



smurg said:


> I'd just apply the PGR now. It will get hotter going into summer and PGR works all the same (just shorter duration).


I'll have to try to do it right before sundown because with the temps and sunlight now the PGR will evaporate on contact. Can't get much hotter later this summer though, temps are already in the upper 90s!


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

hsvtoolfool said:


> TN Hawkeye said:
> 
> 
> > Celsius doesn't do much for sedges.
> ...


Understood. You will enjoy Celsius. It is a slow kill but it is very efficient.


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