# Quick Q



## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

I asked on another thread but didn't get a response. Just trying to nail this real fast.

Bermuda Grass, not sure which. Builder laid sod. It's not Common Bermuda from other forum members seeing pics.

I have a Honda rotary and cut at the 3rd notch.

That's roughly 2.275" (6 settings from 1-1/8" to 4")

I bought a Fiskars Reel Mower to up my lawn game. (I am but a Peasant and cannot afford a powered reel mower)

It has 8 Settings and cuts from 1" to 4"

So if I want to scalp my lawn do I just mow at the lowest setting: 1"

Then Just bump it up 1 notch and maintain that height?

Settings: 
1"
1.428"
1.856"
2.284"
2.712"
3.14"
3.568"
4"

I just did some math, I don't actually measure to the thousands place.

TLTR:
Cut at 2.275"
Got a reel mower
Want to know how to scalp, thinks it best to cut at the lowest setting of 1" and maintain at the next height setting 1.428"


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

A scalp means you see dirt. if you do not have the kind of mower capable of that, other option is to tear off everything with a string trimmer.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Sounds like a good plan. Depending on how thick the lawn is, you may have to step it down - versus going all the way to 1" in one pass.


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> A scalp means you see dirt. if you do not have the kind of mower capable of that, other option is to tear off everything with a string trimmer.


So, are you telling me to rip up my yard or am I good to go on the 1" cut and then maintain at 1.428"?


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Ware said:


> Sounds like a good plan. Depending on how thick the lawn is, you may have to step it down - versus going all the way to 1" in one pass.


I already knocked it down to the Fiskars Reel second reel height of 1.428"

So the next step down is 1"

I just read something about cutting lower than HOC blah blah blah scalp.

Just trying to understand if I need to go down to Setting 1: 1"

then maintain at Setting 2: 1.428"

or something else entirely.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

calebbo said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > A scalp means you see dirt. if you do not have the kind of mower capable of that, other option is to tear off everything with a string trimmer.
> ...


If you rip the lawn down to the dirt, it will become maintainable at 1". I am telling you to rip your lawn down to the dirt rather than do a half job. Scalping is a hard and messy job as is.


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> calebbo said:
> 
> 
> > Greendoc said:
> ...


I feel like I would need to level my lawn if I were to try and maintain at 1"

I just tried to mow a small area in the backyard at the 1" setting and it occasionally got stuck on the ground.

Maybe my lawn is not ready for that level of commitment....

Level
Scalp 5,000 sqft using a weedeater 
Maintain at 1"

The first and second bit dont sound fun at all.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Your mower is getting stuck in the thatch. Under most conditions, a reel mower, even a manual one, negotiates less than perfectly flat ground way better than a reel mower.


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## Godawgs4728 (Aug 9, 2019)

Hey! Hope you found the answers you're looking for. I have the exact reel mower you have. I always use it for in between cuts on the 2nd setting. I do have a motorized reel mower I use twice a week and use the non powered in between. In my experience, you should only need to scalp once a year. If I were you I'd find a lawn care service to do a one time job or see if you can find a powered reel mower you can rent. That is a lot of wear and tear on your equipment and blade sharpening for reels is expensive....not to mention replacing them. Good Luck!


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I usually do not suggest using a homeowner grade reel mower to take down overgrown grass. Seen it for myself where a Tru-Cut P20 destroyed its clutch mechanism when it was used to cut a lawn that had grown over 1" and had a lot of thatch. Do as I say and not as I do because in some instances, I use a Toro GM 1000. However, for extreme cases, such as grass being over 2" tall, I use the Rotary Scissors to cut the lawn down to the dirt.


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## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

I think maybe what you are trying to ask is how to reset the height of cut, more than a traditional scalp.


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Yeah, total new guy here. Just started lawn care this past may when we bought our house.

It's weird because I'm reading different things about scalping and resetting HOC.

Most videos say to scalp, set your lawn mower to the lowest setting and go to town.

My reel mower's lowest setting is still lower than my rotary mower's lowest setting 
*(Fiskars Stay Sharp Reel Mower Setting One:* 1" vs *Honda HRR216VKA Setting One:* 1.125")

So I figured the lower I cut the better the scalp. In my mind that means use the Fiskars instead of the Honda.

Then, raise the reel mower up one setting, which is 1.428", then maintain.

Everything I read about resetting HOC just said to lower your mower at least 0.25" lower than your normal HOC. Then raise it back up and boom, done! Since I can't really adjust that finely, I figured I would ask if it was cool to scalp/reset at 1" then maintain at 1.428"

That's why I had questions about scalping. It sounded like scalping and resetting HOC are the same thing...

Anyways, Im being redundant and rambling at this point.


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> Your mower is getting stuck in the thatch. Under most conditions, a reel mower, even a manual one, negotiates less than perfectly flat ground way better than a reel mower.


I'll just put some extra elbow grease into it and mow the entire yard at 1"

Then bump it up a notch and maintain.

Also, on some threads I have seen people say youre supposed to raise your HOC periodically throughout the year?

Is this true or just some nonsense?

We are at the end of summer heading into fall. My grass is at 1.428" now. Not sure what to raise it to if I am supposed to.


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Godawgs4728 said:


> Hey! Hope you found the answers you're looking for. I have the exact reel mower you have. I always use it for in between cuts on the 2nd setting. I do have a motorized reel mower I use twice a week and use the non powered in between. In my experience, you should only need to scalp once a year. If I were you I'd find a lawn care service to do a one time job or see if you can find a powered reel mower you can rent. That is a lot of wear and tear on your equipment and blade sharpening for reels is expensive....not to mention replacing them. Good Luck!


Yeah, the waters are muddled answer wise.

What I am gleaning is that to scalp I need to hit dirt and tear it up, which I don't know if I have the ability to do since my Fiskar's lowest setting is 1" and my Honda's lowest setting is 1.125"

I dont know if that's low enough to "tear up the dirt" but maybe I'll try using the Honda and see. Like most people, my lawn isnt perfectly level so I will probably chop dirt with the rotary because of the unevenness. I'll call around and see how much it is to scalp and how they do it. I'd be pissed to pay somebody just for them to show up with the same mower or a Toro rotary and just drop the setting down and go to town lol

What I gleaned from resetting is just drop it down 0.25" below HOC and then go back to your HOC setting. Which is easy. Drop to 1" on the Fiskars then raise it back up to the next setting of 1.428"


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> I usually do not suggest using a homeowner grade reel mower to take down overgrown grass. Seen it for myself where a Tru-Cut P20 destroyed its clutch mechanism when it was used to cut a lawn that had grown over 1" and had a lot of thatch. Do as I say and not as I do because in some instances, I use a Toro GM 1000. However, for extreme cases, such as grass being over 2" tall, I use the Rotary Scissors to cut the lawn down to the dirt.


Responding in order, so I didn't read this till now..

I chopped my lawn down with my Fiskars already to 1.428"

So you can scalp with a rotary and I don't need a powered reel mower?


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

calebbo said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > Your mower is getting stuck in the thatch. Under most conditions, a reel mower, even a manual one, negotiates less than perfectly flat ground way better than a reel mower.
> ...


People periodically raise the HOC throughout the year because they get behind (vacation, untimely rain, life obligations, etc.) and don't want to re-scalp the entire lawn. Once it gets high enough you can't stand it, you do a mid-season scalp to reset everything back to your initial target.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

calebbo said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > I usually do not suggest using a homeowner grade reel mower to take down overgrown grass. Seen it for myself where a Tru-Cut P20 destroyed its clutch mechanism when it was used to cut a lawn that had grown over 1" and had a lot of thatch. Do as I say and not as I do because in some instances, I use a Toro GM 1000. However, for extreme cases, such as grass being over 2" tall, I use the Rotary Scissors to cut the lawn down to the dirt.
> ...


Power Rotary Scissors


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

@calebbo - the reasons for the confusion in how to go about resetting your height is because there are 2 different avenues used to pursue this, based on your preference.

If you scalp - as in take it down as close to dirt as possible - you're ripping the bandaid off but will have to live with an ugly scarred up "lawn" for 2-3 weeks. If you don't want to see that ugliness then take it down little by little every couple/3 days, where you still have some green left after every cut.. and just when it greens up again you take that down again. This is how I've come to understand the difference as it seems logical in my head at least.

I do wonder if it's not a bit late in the season for you to be scalping, considering you'll want to let your grass overwinter a bit higher than normal. I understand your predicament with it being a new house and all.


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## Godawgs4728 (Aug 9, 2019)

calebbo said:


> Godawgs4728 said:
> 
> 
> > Hey! Hope you found the answers you're looking for. I have the exact reel mower you have. I always use it for in between cuts on the 2nd setting. I do have a motorized reel mower I use twice a week and use the non powered in between. In my experience, you should only need to scalp once a year. If I were you I'd find a lawn care service to do a one time job or see if you can find a powered reel mower you can rent. That is a lot of wear and tear on your equipment and blade sharpening for reels is expensive....not to mention replacing them. Good Luck!
> ...


Do you know the age of the lawn by chance? You may get some decent results by getting a thatching rake and clearing out the thatch layer. You can rent a power rake for dethatching your lawn if you have a Home Depot close by. I agree that is to late in the year to be scalping. In my area that i a early spring job. Depending on your irrigation system/schedule, you want to maybe raise your height a notch on your mower. Here in Georgia its hot and we havent had much rain so Ive gone up to 2in on my bermuda.


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## ltsibley (Jul 30, 2019)

calebbo said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > I usually do not suggest using a homeowner grade reel mower to take down overgrown grass. Seen it for myself where a Tru-Cut P20 destroyed its clutch mechanism when it was used to cut a lawn that had grown over 1" and had a lot of thatch. Do as I say and not as I do because in some instances, I use a Toro GM 1000. However, for extreme cases, such as grass being over 2" tall, I use the Rotary Scissors to cut the lawn down to the dirt.
> ...


I'm no expert so take this with a grain of salt...

You are correct in what you stated earlier...scalp and reset are two different things. Unless you have irrigation I wouldn't do a full scalp...it's hard on the grass and you'd need to water it (or have significant rain) to help heal it.

You can do what you mentioned and bring the lawn down to the 1" on the Fiskars (which will probably be a nice workout) to do more of a reset and then maintain at 1.4". What would probably also help with this is a dethatch (a lot of people have the sunjoe from Amazon, including myself), depending on how thick your thatch layer is and if you feel like going that route. You'd need water or rain for this as well. You should only do the dethatch if you have 45ish days of growing season left so the yard can repair before winter.

The info on this site can be overwhelming so if you want to keep it simple take it down to 1" (or even 1.125" with the Honda) and then maintain at 1.4" that's the simple route and I'd bet you like the outcome. Then you could do a hard scalp in spring next year if you want to maintain at 1".


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## calebbo (Jul 30, 2019)

Godawgs4728 said:


> calebbo said:
> 
> 
> > Godawgs4728 said:
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Sod was laid down in December of 2018. How often do you need to dethatch a year?


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## Godawgs4728 (Aug 9, 2019)

calebbo said:


> Godawgs4728 said:
> 
> 
> > calebbo said:
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With the lawn only being a little over a year old it shouldn't need it. I have no idea on how long it takes for a thatch layer to build to where its needed. I believe it says bermuda should be done once the thatch layer has reached a depth of half inch or more. The build up will depend on how often you cut and how long your grass is at the cut. I always cut once with my hopper on my mower on my first cut and my second cut I leave it off. Then there are times after I mow I will run over the lawn with my old toro and pick up the clippings or at least mulch them up smaller. Some thatch is good but you dont want an excessive amount. I wouldn't worry about yours for a couple years if your keeping it low and mowed regular.


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## LawnRat (Mar 22, 2019)

You all are overthinking things. Take it down with the bagged rotary on its lowest setting (1 1/8") and maintain with the fiskars at 1.4". In two weeks or less it will look great.


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## Godawgs4728 (Aug 9, 2019)

Like this?


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