# Mowing Low with Rotary



## NanserbE (Jun 29, 2018)

Anyone ever try mowing low with a rotary mower? Success? Failure?

I want to start dropping mine down this fall slowly from 3", my Honda will go as low as 3/4". Reel mower might come next year.

Thanks!


----------



## blorge (Mar 22, 2018)

It can be done if your yard is super level, but you will get a good amount of scalping. 1" to 1.5" is probably the sweet spot but any lower will scalp a bit.


----------



## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

It's not only the scalping but when you use a reel mower the blade is cut cleaner, no tearing.
Tearing a short blade of grass puts too much stress on the plant.


----------



## zeus201 (Aug 30, 2017)

It is doable and several us have done it.

Nomix turf, not super level but the full front and rear rollers helps mitigate the scalping. I still scalp in several spots where the irrigation trench lines are high.

But I went from 4" to 2.5" last fall. This year maintained 2" w/rotary on the main yard and reel mowed belowed my strips. Mid-summer switched too all reel cut and lawn is doing quite well.

2" HOC:



Reel mowed:



I think the 2" HOC looked best but @Shindoman is correct, quality of cut is way better and makes it hard to go back to rotary. I want a Swardman as I love the ability to adjust the HOC all the way up to 2".


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@wardconnor did a video showing the difference in cut quality at the same hoc.

Also, the clean cut helps the edges of the leaf blades to heal faster.


----------



## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

I have low mowed a lot with a rotary. I even modified my mower to go lower than stock. It can be done. Like was mentioned above, the flatness of your lawn makes a big difference. I have cut down to around 3/4 with rotary. It is not ideal in any way but it can be done.

What I have found is that on the day you cut the lawn that low it looks great. The 2nd or 4th day it does not look so good. The reason would be the ripped tips. they yellow and when you put thousands or more ripped tips together it give and overall yellow appearance.


----------



## Kustrud (Jun 23, 2017)

NanserbE said:


> Anyone ever try mowing low with a rotary mower? Success? Failure?
> 
> I want to start dropping mine down this fall slowly from 3", my Honda will go as low as 3/4". Reel mower might come next year.
> 
> Thanks!


Of course, within limits! Anything lower than 2" realistically is pretty tough with a rotary. I've had both but my new yard is too large to reel mow so often so I'm back to a rotary. This is what works best for me, my mower is a 21" Toro Commercial with the cast aluminum deck.

In spring I scalp to 1" (bag it) and then maintain at 1.5". Around July/Aug I either need to scalp again and start over or just bump it up to 2" for the rest of the season to avoid swirls/scalpin. I mulch it the entire season after bagging the initial scalp. Either way is fine and honestly 2" is still a good height for Bermuda and looks great. Just make sure you mow often enough at either height. Fert consistently and water 1" one time weekly, it'll look great!


----------



## NanserbE (Jun 29, 2018)

Thanks!

I'm currently mowing at 3" and watering 2-3 times a week at 0.5" each watering session depending on temperature. Right now I'm letting it get as dry as it will tolerate to help the Poa A die off.

Going to put down some prodiamine at 0.5lb/Acre tomorrow, and again in 20ish days. Poa does really well here in the PNW unfortunately.

This is 10 days without watering and 80-90 all week no rain.


I think I'll stick to 2" on the rotary at my minimum for now and do some renovation leveling next year or the year after.



Kustrud said:


> NanserbE said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone ever try mowing low with a rotary mower? Success? Failure?
> ...


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Prodiamine prevents the poa seeds from establishing, but it won't kill it. Splitting two applications 20 days apart has not real benefit (unless you are concerned with rain).

Tenacity does control poa annua.


----------



## Kustrud (Jun 23, 2017)

NanserbE said:


> Thanks!
> 
> I'm currently mowing at 3" and watering 2-3 times a week at 0.5" each watering session depending on temperature. Right now I'm letting it get as dry as it will tolerate to help the Poa A die off.
> 
> ...


Good deal - only thing I would change is water heavily once a week instead of multiple smaller waterings.


----------



## NanserbE (Jun 29, 2018)

g-man said:


> Prodiamine prevents the poa seeds from establishing, but it won't kill it. Splitting two applications 20 days apart has not real benefit (unless you are concerned with rain).
> 
> Tenacity does control poa annua.


Nice, I've been eyeballing Tenacity. Any experience with ethofumesate (Poa Constrictor/Prograss) ?


----------

