# very bad scalping issue



## kayano (Aug 10, 2018)

The house was a new construction last year, so I guess the landscape crew didn't do a good job to lay down the sod. Last year this lawn was looking very bad. I started to take care of this lawn at the beginning of this year. But I constantly got the scalping issue after I mow the lawn. I had to raise the height of honda mover to 2.5 inches to avoid the bad scalpings, but it didn't help over the time. And I know it's high for bermudagrasses. I can also feel the lawn is not even. So will leveling the entire lawn help this issue? Or any other suggestions. Thanks. As you can see in the pictures, the lawn has slopes. Not sure how to deal with this lawn. The pictures were taken after mowing. The first one is in the late afternoon, and the second on in around the noon time.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Welcome to TLF! Mowing with a reel mower and leveling would be ideal, but a quick fix would be scalping it low with your rotary mower to sort of reset things. What you see is the nature of mowing bermuda with a rotary. When mowed tall with a rotary you get the brown stems, which eventually leads to the scalped looked, so you have to raise the HOC to correct it. It's a vicious cycle. The same can happen when mowing low with a reel mower, but it is usually slower and the HOC steps on the mower are smaller.


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## Jackofalltrades (Jul 17, 2018)

I have new celebration that's 14 days old, been mowed 4 times already growing like crazy but my yard was pretty level before. I'm mowing at 1.5" with a rotary right now but the sod cut is a little uneven causing some scalping if I go any lower. I have a flex 21 but the max HOC is .5. So I'm kind of wondering the same thing if I should just let it grow for the rest of the season maintaining at 1.5" with a rotary and wait until spring to take it down to dirt and top dress it? Or if I should try to top dress before dormancy? So many questions.


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## Kustrud (Jun 23, 2017)

kayano said:


> The house was a new construction last year, so I guess the landscape crew didn't do a good job to lay down the sod. Last year this lawn was looking very bad. I started to take care of this lawn at the beginning of this year. But I constantly got the scalping issue after I mow the lawn. I had to raise the height of honda mover to 2.5 inches to avoid the bad scalpings, but it didn't help over the time. And I know it's high for bermudagrasses. I can also feel the lawn is not even. So will leveling the entire lawn help this issue? Or any other suggestions. Thanks. As you can see in the pictures, the lawn has slopes. Not sure how to deal with this lawn. The pictures were taken after mowing. The first one is in the late afternoon, and the second on in around the noon time.


Yup! Scalp that thing down as low as you can, bag the clippings. Then raise your mower a notch or two and maintain it at that level cutting every 3-5 days or so that you are not taking more than 1/3 of the blade of grass off. Your lawn should stay green after you mow it!  After you scalp it, hit it with some nitrogen and water 1" weekly. It'll look like a different yard in 4 weeks.


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## kayano (Aug 10, 2018)

Thanks for all your advises. It is really a good forum. Is it still a good time to scalp it down that low (like 1 inch)? I assume fall will come soon in NC. If I go with the reel mower, not sure it is easy to use the manual one for my relatively large lawn (about 7,500 sqft). But if I go with the gas self-propelled, it is expensive.


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## Kustrud (Jun 23, 2017)

kayano said:


> Thanks for all your advises. It is really a good forum. Is it still a good time to scalp it down that low (like 1 inch)? I assume fall will come soon in NC. If I go with the reel mower, not sure it is easy to use the manual one for my relatively large lawn (about 7,500 sqft). But if I go with the gas self-propelled, it is expensive.


I'm from GA and know that I could scalp again and be OK. May want input on someone else near you. You want time for it to come back for sure.

I'd stick with the rotary until you can get a powered reel.


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## Thor865 (Mar 26, 2018)

kayano said:


> Thanks for all your advises. It is really a good forum. Is it still a good time to scalp it down that low (like 1 inch)? I assume fall will come soon in NC. If I go with the reel mower, not sure it is easy to use the manual one for my relatively large lawn (about 7,500 sqft). But if I go with the gas self-propelled, it is expensive.


I'm in Tennessee and scalped a couple weeks ago. Check out my journal and you'll see just how quick it comes back. Would of been quicker but I had PGR still affecting growth. You should be fine as temps here are mid 80's-90's next few weeks projected and I'm sure your same or hotter.

Scalp away


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## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

kayano said:


> Thanks for all your advises. It is really a good forum. Is it still a good time to scalp it down that low (like 1 inch)? I assume fall will come soon in NC. If I go with the reel mower, not sure it is easy to use the manual one for my relatively large lawn (about 7,500 sqft). But if I go with the gas self-propelled, it is expensive.


Where in NC are you? I know that here in eastern NC, the next couple of weeks are going to be hot and possibly rainy. I scalped mine 2 weeks ago and it is almost all of the way back. I'm maintaining between .75 an 1 inch. I'll take some pictures tomorrow to show you how fast mine has come back. I'm only maintaining about 3K right now as I learn, but next spring, I'll be doing the whole 17k.


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## kayano (Aug 10, 2018)

Thank you all. I was so afraid of doing this because I know my lawn will be ugly brown for weeks. But, with your encouragements, I think I'll do it. tblood, I'm living in the Raleigh area, and the weather will be between 70-90 degrees in the following 10 days. So I guess it would be fine to scalp.


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## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

kayano said:


> Thank you all. I was so afraid of doing this because I know my lawn will be ugly brown for weeks. But, with your encouragements, I think I'll do it. tblood, I'm living in the Raleigh area, and the weather will be between 70-90 degrees in the following 10 days. So I guess it would be fine to scalp.


If you were closer, I would let you cut it with my reel so you could see the difference. I cut my front 3k with it, and it makes a huge difference when it comes to scalping. The mower follows the contours very well. I can cut low. You can see the undulations in the yard, but the scalping is not an issue any longer.


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## Cory (Aug 23, 2017)

kayano said:


> Thank you all. I was so afraid of doing this because I know my lawn will be ugly brown for weeks. But, with your encouragements, I think I'll do it. tblood, I'm living in the Raleigh area, and the weather will be between 70-90 degrees in the following 10 days. So I guess it would be fine to scalp.


I'm in Archer Lodge, 20 min east of Raleigh, I scalped last weekend. Thought I would let it get taller for winter but once it got 1.25-1.5" I hated looking at it. if you are gonna do it I would suggest putting down a quick release fertilizer after you do it. Something like a 34-0-0 and give it plenty of water. We still have all of September and probably most of October until the grass really slows down. It won't grow as fast as it did in July and August but it certainly isn't gonna stop anytime soon. Last year mine didn't go dormant untill November. First frost is typically late October early November for our area https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/average-first-fall-frost-dates-for-selected-north-carolina-locations


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## fp_911 (Apr 10, 2017)

One thing I found with the rotary and scalping, if you scalp enough times those spots eventually flatten out. Sure it destroys your blade but over time you'll stop scalping on the really high spots because the blade evens out the ground.

The other trick I've found at least with my yard is that if I don't stop while mowing the scalping won't happen quite as much. When the mower is moving it almost "floats" over the lawn so the moment you stop it, the weight of the mower digs in and BAM you get your half moons all over the yard. If you keep moving though it doesn't happen as often.

I've used both rotary and a greens mower. The greens mower is less likely to scalp but still isn't perfect because my yard isn't absolutely flat. But I'm less stressed while using it because the scalping is more localized and only in specific areas if I approach it the wrong way. With the rotary I have to be extra careful to keep it from damaging the lawn.

I'm also in NC but just outside of Charlotte!


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Jackofalltrades said:


> I have new celebration that's 14 days old, been mowed 4 times already growing like crazy but my yard was pretty level before. I'm mowing at 1.5" with a rotary right now but the sod cut is a little uneven causing some scalping if I go any lower. I have a flex 21 but the max HOC is .5. So I'm kind of wondering the same thing if I should just let it grow for the rest of the season maintaining at 1.5" with a rotary and wait until spring to take it down to dirt and top dress it? Or if I should try to top dress before dormancy? So many questions.


FWIW, I've got a Flex 21 as well, and R&R sells the High HOC kit (R106-4699) for $90.95, which allows you to change out the brackets on the side of the cutting head to change the HOC. I believe it'll allow you to go up to at least 1" HOC if not more. I'm using my Flex 21 at 0.750.


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## Jackofalltrades (Jul 17, 2018)

@Colonel K0rn so I won't be able to use the groomer with that HOC cut correct? Do you ever remove it and put the groomer back on? Does your flex cut well at the higher length being it's an 11 blade reel?


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## kayano (Aug 10, 2018)

tblood said:


> kayano said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you all. I was so afraid of doing this because I know my lawn will be ugly brown for weeks. But, with your encouragements, I think I'll do it. tblood, I'm living in the Raleigh area, and the weather will be between 70-90 degrees in the following 10 days. So I guess it would be fine to scalp.
> ...


Thanks @tblood. I can imagine the reel could help the scalping issue. But let me try to scalp down first and see what happens.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Jackofalltrades said:


> Colonel K0rn so I won't be able to use the groomer with that HOC cut correct? Do you ever remove it and put the groomer back on? Does your flex cut well at the higher length being it's an 11 blade reel?


I can't answer that question with 100% certainty as my mower doesn't have a groomer attached, but the HOC shouldn't have any bearing on whether or not you can use the groomer if it's attached unless it has to be mechanically attached with the shorter HOC brackets. I'd have to look at a Flex with a groomer attached to give you a definitive answer. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. @MasterMech @viva_oldtrafford your input please.

I'm sure I would get a better quality of cut if I went with a lower count reel, as mine is equipped with a *14 blade*! I'm eyeballing a lower blade count OEM Toro branded replacement reel for next season, simply because of the HOC that I'm maintaining. This is the first year I haven't had garden salad, so I'm happy as heck with the results I get so far, so it's working for me, even if my clip rate sucks.


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