reduceing clumps

[ronslawncare]

probally everyone knows this except me im a slow learner but anyways besides keeping blades sharp and scrapeing your deck out .i notice if you cut a lawn in a box shape pattern instead of up and down that this seriously reduces the clumping of grass .elimates a lot of blower work for me at least.i cant believe i never did this b4

[MuskTurfKing]

You can do that, but in my opinion, I think it leaves a very unattractive pattern...

You can slow down when your cutting and that might reduce it, or just double cut...it only takes a couple more minutes.

[LoneStarLawn]

If the grass is clumping and your equipment good, blades are sharp, moderate speeds...Then the grass needs to be cut more often. I would suggest shortening the days in-between cuts if possible.

[fivestarlawnken]

I would be afraid to leave a box pattern a yard,doesn't look very good.I would mow more,raise deck or change blade pattern.:rolleyes:

[Guido]

The "box" looks like crap. Its usually only homeowners doing that with lawn tractors.

The only time I've done it is in the fall when having to pick up leaves, then we always went back and cut regular up and down paths afterwards.

How high are you cutting and how often? This will help find a sloution to your clumping problem.

[geogunn]

by cutting in the box shape you are always blowing you clippings to the inside where they are cut and blown again. sooner or later you are gonna have clumps in the middle.

if you cut the box shape the other direction, you are gonna blow clipping all over everything.

when you mow back and forth, every other pass is a double clipping row and that is probably where you are getting the clumps.

I suggest, besides the previous advice, use high lift blades. I do and I like them except whei I discharge into a strong wind. it's kinda like spitting into the wind.:cry:

cutting a box style cut to me looks just as good as back and forth except you don't get stripes. and I agree that my yard without stripes would look like crap!

GEO

[vipermanz]

Originally posted by guido
The "box" looks like crap. Its usually only homeowners doing that with lawn tractors.


and don't forget that famous pattern where they follow the same path they made around an obstacle throughout the whole yard:D

[David Haggerty]

Originally posted by vipermanz


and don't forget that famous pattern where they follow the same path they made around an obstacle throughout the whole yard:D

I've heard that called the "shrinking perimiter" cut. It's for those "special" customers. You know, the slow pay, or can't you do it a little cheaper customers.

Dave

[Richard Martin]

I use usually only make "laps" around a yard if they have real bad crabgrass. I make 2 passes discharging towards the inside on the perimeter of the yard and then complete the cutting discharging towards the outside. This reduces clumping and virtually eliminates cowpies.

At this time of the year if you go by a yard in my area and it doesn't have huge amounts of thatch sitting on top of a yard then a professional probably cut the grass.

[mdb landscaping]

sounds to me like eric has been challenged to try and stripe a box pattern?

[Premo Services]

ron
I never done it that way, and don`t understand what it does different. If I have a lot of clumping, I will double cut, and blow if I have to. I think the other guys are on track with what kind of blades you are using to be the problem, or mabey cut the grass more frequent.
vipermanz : and don't forget that famous pattern where they follow the same path they made around an obstacle throughout the whole yard[/QUOTE]
LOL there are some homeowners that do this where I am cutting.
It really puts a different spin on things when the two lawns on either sides were cut in a stripe pattern.

[Richard Martin]

Mow Money wrote:
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I never done it that way, and don`t understand what it does different. If I have a lot of clumping, I will double cut, and blow if I have to.
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I guess you have never had the honor of maintaining a heavily crabgrassed lawn. Geogun explained it best:

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when you mow back and forth, every other pass is a double clipping row and that is probably where you are getting the clumps.
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Crabgrass never dries out even under the hottest sun. And a little bit of rain or high humidities make it grow like wild. The grass blades seem to contain huge amounts of moisture and when you cut them it's just like it had just rained.

I have tried all kinds of blade combo's. Cutting higher doesn't help because then the crabgrass just gets thicker and deeper. The only thing that seems to help is to lower the engine rpms below 3,000 and lap cut discharging to the outside. It's also pointless to stripe crabgrass because the stripes are gone in 2 days.

[lee b]

Way down south you can't stripe grass [unless you spray alternating round-up stripes]. I cut grass so that you have the least amount of clippings showing. Wish I could make stripes, and sometimes if you look real hard you may see a little pattern,right after you mow, but in 2 hours it's gone. Mowing where you blow the clippings to the outside produces the least amount of clumps, and sometimes that's what I do. I have never double-cut a lawn just to disperse clumps, sometimes to cut really over-grown grass.

[AltaLawnCare]

My biggest problem with "the clumps" are lawns which have areas (such as over septic systems) which grow about three times as much as the rest of the yard - so I just double cut these areas. This also helps to straighten out stripes.

I always thought that mowing back and forth was to reduce clippings, because of the clippings blowing back into your path on every other run.