Cutting Lawns Short Downunder

[BigJim]

Average New Zealand home with lawn cut by Walker with deck on lowest height approximately 1/2 inch........

[BigJim]

More upmarket subdivision................

[BigJim]

Notice how low the deck is off the concrete.........

[BigJim]

Look away now if real short grass offends....this is as low as it goes,1/4 inch with a pushmower....yep that brown stuff showing thru is dirt...............

[BigJim]

Another 1/2 inch job,but look at the view,Tauranga Harbour looking across to Mount Maunganui,its a million dollar view because you need at least that much to live in this street,2 million probably closer hence no LCO's live in this neighbourhood.......

[BigJim]

Finally....Just to show you we can cut long grass.............

[Atlantic Lawn]

Thanks Jim, great pictures.How often do you cut?I know that here on the coast of NC we cut low but rarely that low.We had one property a few years back we were cuttin' every three days before the homeowner started cuttin' it again.

[David Haggerty]

Great pics' Thanks.

I know very little of New Zealand. Are those tile roofs in those pics? That would be upscale. Wilmington only has one house with a tile roof.

Dave

[BigJim]

All the lawns cut fortnightly,except the real short one's cut weekly and the long grass was 4 weeks since last cut.They are "tiles" but they are made of embossed roofing iron,shapes stamped in and coated to look like tiles,nailed on in strips about 6 feet long,they dont fall off should there be an earthquake and they can be recoloured later on if you want to change the colour.

[Mowingman]

The lawns look nice,but, I have 2 questions. What kind of grass is it, and why do you cut it so short down there. To cut that short here, everyone would have a lot of leveling to do or scalping would be a common problem.

[groundsguy1970]

I mow that short most of the year, damp climates are not condusive tall grass...:)

Good to see some KIWI POWER!!!:cool:

[Fantasy Lawns]

Looks Sharp Jim ..... thanks for the view

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Is there a reason you cut that short?

[TLS]

Boy, I'd love to be able to cut that short! Cant though, the Lazer is min.'ed out at 1.5". Would cut great at that height though, no stringers at that height! Those are some real smooth lawns! Almost like a golf course.

Whats a fortnight? Heard it before, but maybe you could explain it for us "Northerners" :D

[BerksLawn]

Looks good Jim, you just need to put some stripes in them yards :D

Later,
Steve

[odin]

Warwick

You told me you had pictures of some lawns that were cut short
boy you was right
But they look real nice partner ,that walker does a good job.

[jack D.]

WHY???
Why cut it so the dirt shows?????
WHY???:eek:

[bubble boy]

i take it no mulching at that height...

and are the lawns irrigated? i dont know much about NZ but isn't it the dead of summer there? must be hard to keep em green.

[plow kid]

that last pic looks like us in the spring cutting 1+foot high field grass, the 1/2" high ones look real good!~NaTe

[CSRA Landscaping]

Jim, what kind of grass is that? Bermuda? Also, with the Walker cutting that low, do you have any problems with scalping ... at all?? Ever?? Do you have some sort of special set-up with it to insure that it doesn't? There's no way that I'd try that with the Z.

A fortnight is two weeks.

Casey, how many names are you going to go through?

[BigJim]

Hey,lets try some answers to all those questions,the main reason the lawns are cut so short is mainly climate,mild temperatures most of the year with even rainfall,the grass just grows,its also a perception thing here,most people think a lawn needs to be cut short to stop it growing too fast!.,I'd love to take a photo of a whole street to show you all the lawns cut low.Stripes would look nice but theres not enough height in the grass to get them lasting any length of time.The most common lawn grasses are rye,clover,browntop,fescue combinations.Some of the real short lawns have low flat weed coverings such as Dicondra or Hydrocottyle,not much flat weed spraying down here.Hard to mulch the real short lawns until summer,but theres not much grass on them anyway,that real short one only fills one catcher.Its mid summer here now but its been one of the wettest on record so no need to water but there are very few if any lawns with irragation systems in them.Scalping isnt a problem with the Walker cause most of the short lawns are fairly level,with the pushmower its a fact of life,cut low they scalp.The Walker decks here have longer height adjustment pins to go down lower than the US decks.That grass in the last picture is Kikuyu a creeping invasive grass that grows fast in the warm,but practically dies right off in winter,OK if you keep it cut short but if gets away hard work to cut down,the Walker had thrown in the towel when I took the pictures,had to finish it with the pushmower.

[southside]

Thats cutting pretty short. Over here (West Island :D ) we cut
at 21/4 - 21/2 inch.

Hey Jim, good to see the Kiwis going ok at the cricket for a change. Makes it interesting.

[JJ Lawn]

I have a couple of questions too....

1st, what is fortnightly. :)

And 2nd, When cutting that low and especially with dirt being exposed, how are your deck and blower housing on the Walker holding up. I mean dirt can be pretty abrasive to metal.

Jim

[groundsguy1970]

You need to ask which way the dunneee swishes when you flush it!!!

[vipermanz]

Originally posted by JJ Lawn
I have a couple of questions too....

1st, what is fortnightly. :)

And 2nd, When cutting that low and especially with dirt being exposed, how are your deck and blower housing on the Walker holding up. I mean dirt can be pretty abrasive to metal.

Jim

being around the coast there's no doubt there is sand in an abundance too.