# How low on St Aug when reel mowing but keeping dark green?



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

Hey guys first post here. What is the lowest you can go on St Augustine when using a reel mower but still maintaining that deep green color? I currently havey McLane 20" reel mower at 1-1/8" but Everytime I now the lawn it turns a pale green color. I'm thinking that's just because of the frequency, I now onnve a week and might be taking more than 1/3 rule.

Here are some pictures of my lawn I took yesterday evening. I have not mowed since last Wednesday. I have an orbit b-hyve timer for the sprinklers. I set up some catch cups on Monday and imput all that information to the app. No soil test has been done. I am currently using Banding pro choice 21-7-14 fertilizer since there isn't any milorganite available. I did also add some iron it's but that's about it. The lawn did have some low spots so i placed some top soil to kind of even it out and also ordered a roller for the mower to prevent scalping.







Not sure what this yellow spot is ☝





This section seems to have 2 different types of st Augustine. It changes right where the tree is









Last 2 pictures☝ show some other type of grass growing all over my lawn. Years ago we went on vacation for a month and had some neighbors that do landscaping now it and water it for us and with out asking first threw some other type of grass seed over our lawn 🤦‍♂️



On this one you can kind of see the transition from 1 type of st Augustine to another.



☝ Bare spot from door traffic


----------



## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

Sounds to me like you are exposing more of the stalks of the plant when mow. Not much leaf tissue left. Increasing mowing frequency wouldn't really help in this scenario. If you intend to maintain at 1-1/8" drop the mower down a notch or 2 below 1-1/8" then raise it back to 1-1/8". Now you will have more leaf tissue exposed and you should see a color boost. Increase your mowing frequency to 2 times a week if time allows and you will really enjoy a deeper green color with a manicured look to boot.


----------



## Central_Texas_SA (May 10, 2021)

I wanted to get a reel mower for the St. Augustine just to flex up on the neighbors, but I was not sure how it would turn out (I mow at 3", so it would probably be overkill). 

Could you post some photos of the dying grass blades in the yellow spot? Hard to see what it happening with the picture from so far away.


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Did you try PGR yet? That might darken it.


----------



## Boy_meets_lawn (Sep 27, 2020)

You may be into uncharted territory, as far as I know there might be only 1 other guy with a reel mowing st aug and I think he cuts higher.

St augustine doesn't like to be cut short so I'd probably max out the height of the reel and try to keep it there.


----------



## Boy_meets_lawn (Sep 27, 2020)

Found his channel, looks like he has cut as low as 1". Doesn't show the aftercut appearance though. Dont know if he posts here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ChwislPsiKQ


----------



## UltimateLawn (Sep 25, 2020)

As our summers get hotter here in north TX, I mow at 4" to prevent dry-out.


----------



## Central_Texas_SA (May 10, 2021)

Interesting video, I was not aware that St. Augustine would even take stripes.


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

Central_Texas_SA said:


> I wanted to get a reel mower for the St. Augustine just to flex up on the neighbors, but I was not sure how it would turn out (I mow at 3", so it would probably be overkill).
> 
> Could you post some photos of the dying grass blades in the yellow spot? Hard to see what it happening with the picture from so far away.














It's only that one spot


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

Boy_meets_lawn said:


> Found his channel, looks like he has cut as low as 1". Doesn't show the aftercut appearance though. Dont know if he posts here.


I saw that video before


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

Boy_meets_lawn said:


> You may be into uncharted territory, as far as I know there might be only 1 other guy with a reel mowing st aug and I think he cuts higher.
> 
> St augustine doesn't like to be cut short so I'd probably max out the height of the reel and try to keep it there.


1/8 is the highest my mower goes. Online manual says 1/2 if you lower the rear axle but mine doesn't have the extra holes to lower the rear axle. I did just get a front roller though and i compared to the old caste wheels and the hole for the bolt on the roller sits about 1/8" higher. Only issue is now the drive wheels almost always touch down because the mower is tilted back a bit more.


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

ionicatoms said:


> Did you try PGR yet? That might darken it.


Excuse my ignorance, what is PGR?


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

I did a single pass o. This part of the lawn with the newly installed roller at the max height. Looks like i have to sharpen my blades too.


----------



## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

@Boy_meets_lawn i know of the guy you speak of that posts here and he swears by reel mowing st aug. If it were me I would look into a try cut as it could now as high as 2.25" and easy hoc adjustments to boot. Would make scalping, then maintaining your st aug a piece of cake.


----------



## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

It can be done just takes some time. Youll see the color between the first picture (2.5") and the last (1") is about the same. 2nd picture is within that transition, a little yellow ish. When I first started going low, the stolons went nuts (3rd picture for reference). So many runners hanging out on top. As I continued to mow it got better and better.

Dallas, Tx. Our old property.

Tru Cut H-20


----------



## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Aussie 13mm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lm0xNfXMwU


----------



## Central_Texas_SA (May 10, 2021)

fcortes626 said:


> It's only that one spot


Looks a little like grey leaf spot that is pushing out. I have a few areas that are recovering myself. The areas look worse as the dead/dying portion of the grass blade reaches the ends of the blade. Your grass blades look clear below the damaged portion, hopefully it pushes out in the next few cuts.

Possible someone else has a different opinion?


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

fcortes626 said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> > Did you try PGR yet? That might darken it.
> ...


Plant Growth Regulator; T-Nex promises to darken the lawn a little bit. I'm trying it for the first time this year.


----------



## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

I've reel cut my StAug for three years now and it's thriving and spreading. 
The little Scott's manual I have can be adjusted at the wheels in addition to the usual roller spot. I have it at the highest spot on the wheel and roller. Cuts my StAug at 2.5". 
I have experimented lower and it does okay, but looks tons better higher and fewer runners getting pulled up.


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

ionicatoms said:


> fcortes626 said:
> 
> 
> > ionicatoms said:
> ...


Oh I saw it on a YouTube video last night. They said it's expensive and only sell it in high quantities and the shelf life is like 3 years. They did mention this forum and how people brake it up to lower quantities and sell it on here.


----------



## fcortes626 (Jun 10, 2021)

dubyadubya87 said:


> I've reel cut my StAug for three years now and it's thriving and spreading.
> The little Scott's manual I have can be adjusted at the wheels in addition to the usual roller spot. I have it at the highest spot on the wheel and roller. Cuts my StAug at 2.5".
> I have experimented lower and it does okay, but looks tons better higher and fewer runners getting pulled up.


We have been reel mowing for years but my dad likes to go low and would scalp the lawn so i convinced him to go higher. I'm at about 1 1/8" I'll get a pic letter but it's looking green.


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

fcortes626 said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> > fcortes626 said:
> ...


You could start with Pramaxis (8 oz) if the upfront cost is a concern. That's what I did.


----------



## 813king (Sep 28, 2021)

I just found this. The above video is me reel mowing. I'm @ .50 hoc currently. Click on my links for more pics.


----------

