# Issues with Reel mower lawn



## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

Having trouble with my lawn yellowing after cutting with reel mower. Scalped my yard 2 weeks ago and applied Milorganite 1 week ago. Lawn is yellow and my Tru Cut H20 leaves green streaks mixed with wider yellow cuts.

Any ideas what is causing streaks and why yellowing after reel mower cut?


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

How the distance between the reel and the bedknife all the way across the bedknife? Will it cut paper? Have you backlapped recently?


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## hefegrass (Mar 20, 2019)

maybe you are cutting through the green top growth into a layer of yellow undergrowth.. the wheels of the reel mower are possibly laying the green grass down so the reel doesnt cut those areas and they remain green.


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

How low did you scalp? I am thinking that you probably could use a good dethatching as you still have alot of dead thatch in your turf. I don't believe it is a mower problem and hefegrass is correct in that your tires are laying down the green turf blades causing the streaks.


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## erdons (Apr 3, 2018)

Are you cutting at your scalp height? If you scalped at for example 1/2 inch you can't mow at 1/2 Inch going forward or you'll keep scalping, gotta take it up to 5/8 or 3/4 for your maintenance hoc..


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

erdons said:


> Are you cutting at your scalp height? If you scalped at for example 1/2 inch you can't mow at 1/2 Inch going forward or you'll keep scalping, gotta take it up to 5/8 or 3/4 for your maintenance hoc..


This!


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

SGrabs33 said:


> How the distance between the reel and the bedknife all the way across the bedknife? Will it cut paper? Have you backlapped recently?


It would not cut paper manually. Taking it in for yearly service next week. Can you advise why backlap will help?


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

gpbrown60 said:


> How low did you scalp? I am thinking that you probably could use a good dethatching as you still have alot of dead thatch in your turf. I don't believe it is a mower problem and hefegrass is correct in that your tires are laying down the green turf blades causing the streaks.


On the H20 I scalped on the 4th notch up and cut today on 5th notch. Unsure of how to measure cut height on this model. I have no idea how anyone uses the first 3 notches.


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

erdons said:


> Are you cutting at your scalp height? If you scalped at for example 1/2 inch you can't mow at 1/2 Inch going forward or you'll keep scalping, gotta take it up to 5/8 or 3/4 for your maintenance hoc..


Any idea of how to measure HOC on tru cut H-20?


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

hefegrass said:


> maybe you are cutting through the green top growth into a layer of yellow undergrowth.. the wheels of the reel mower are possibly laying the green grass down so the reel doesnt cut those areas and they remain green.


How do you fix the issue with the wheels? Why wouldn't all reel mowers do this?


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

nipper404 said:


> erdons said:
> 
> 
> > Are you cutting at your scalp height? If you scalped at for example 1/2 inch you can't mow at 1/2 Inch going forward or you'll keep scalping, gotta take it up to 5/8 or 3/4 for your maintenance hoc..
> ...


I believe is notch is .25"


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

nipper404 said:


> gpbrown60 said:
> 
> 
> > How low did you scalp? I am thinking that you probably could use a good dethatching as you still have alot of dead thatch in your turf. I don't believe it is a mower problem and hefegrass is correct in that your tires are laying down the green turf blades causing the streaks.
> ...


The notches are approximately (low to high) 3/8" to 2 1/4". I have a 20" Tru Cut but use a Baroness Greens mower most of the time. My lawn is pretty level and I Tru Cut scalped on the lowest setting and cut with my Baroness at around 3/4". How often are you cutting your lawn?


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

If you haven't already you should read the Bermuda Bible at https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1651


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

Currently mowing about once a week.



gpbrown60 said:


> nipper404 said:
> 
> 
> > gpbrown60 said:
> ...


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

nipper404 said:


> hefegrass said:
> 
> 
> > maybe you are cutting through the green top growth into a layer of yellow undergrowth.. the wheels of the reel mower are possibly laying the green grass down so the reel doesnt cut those areas and they remain green.
> ...


They do. Are you doing any overlap in your cuts. Maybe overlap 5 inches or so and see if that helps.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

nipper404 said:


> SGrabs33 said:
> 
> 
> > How the distance between the reel and the bedknife all the way across the bedknife? Will it cut paper? Have you backlapped recently?
> ...


What do they do during the service. Grind the reel? Backlap the reel? Either of those should alleviate the issue if it involves the blades/bedknife.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

************ is a way to grind the reel a little bit yourself. It's just enough to get it sharp enough to cut paper again. As long as there is enough relief on the reel from the last time it had a grind, backlapping works great.

I have a Trucut C27, but I don't know if the height notches are the same or not. I scalped my yard on the first or second notch back at the end of February. I can't remember which notch. I maintain the front yard on the fourth notch which is about 1/2". I almost always double cut my front yard (two different directions) and try to alternate directions in the back. I haven't had any issues with my wheels leaving green strips like that.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

nipper404 said:


> Currently mowing about once a week.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This may be your issue. I'm mowing twice a week and we are not as warm as ATL and my grass is taller than yours. From the pic it looks like you are cutting off all the green and exposing the underneath yellow (brown). I'll leave it to the reel mowing experts but you may have to either scalp again or raise your height of cut. Either way you will have to mow more often and cut off less grass. As @Redtwin said "Mow less, more often".


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Your scalping the yard pretty much each time.

Drop the height two notches. Scalp the yard again and then allow it to grow and green back up and cut it higher than the scalp and cut it more often.

Once a week cuts from here on out without the use of a PGR will scalp it and make it yellow for the rest of the year unless you want to maintain the turf at a higher cut.


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## nipper404 (May 2, 2018)

Thanks for the feedback Fatcity! Prior to putting PGR down, is there anything I can put down to help with the green up? I put down Milorganite a couple weeks ago and have not witnessed any effects. I did read that adding nitrogen after scalping can be detrimental. After scalping would you go up 2 notches for maintenance HOC?



FATC1TY said:


> Your scalping the yard pretty much each time.
> 
> Drop the height two notches. Scalp the yard again and then allow it to grow and green back up and cut it higher than the scalp and cut it more often.
> 
> Once a week cuts from here on out without the use of a PGR will scalp it and make it yellow for the rest of the year unless you want to maintain the turf at a higher cut.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

nipper404 said:


> Thanks for the feedback Fatcity! Prior to putting PGR down, is there anything I can put down to help with the green up? I put down Milorganite a couple weeks ago and have not witnessed any effects. I did read that adding nitrogen after scalping can be detrimental. After scalping would you go up 2 notches for maintenance HOC?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You could apply some iron for green up


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